Mueller has recently welcomed two new team members to the grounds crew – no, not the ones wearing hats, but the shiny robotic mowers below. The new mowers use GPS satellite navigation and our local reference station to operate within virtual boundaries on the grounds. They operate every night, with the larger mower doing the Primary and Secondary ovals and covering a total of 33,000m2 every two nights. The smaller mower covers the edges of the ovals, getting into the areas that require more manoeuvrability. Both systems can cut down to 10mm if required (baseball field quality) but currently maintain a 38mm cut.
Why use robotic lawn mowers? The frequent mowing intervals mean improved turf health with fewer weeds, and the lightweight systems cause less compaction on the surface and allow mowing on wet ground. Grounds staff are able to give more time to other tasks around campus because these little workers are busy in the off-hours, and the mowers’ maintenance and operation result in significant cost savings compared to conventional equipment. Lastly, they do their bit for the environment with battery operation and an expected reduction of 17.8 tons of CO2 emissions over an 8-year period compared to the old equipment.
And just in case someone is thinking one of them would look better in their own backyard (cough cough…all of us), the in-built GPS means if they decide to go for a trip off campus, they can be tracked and retrieved. Sorry folks!
Take a look at the mowers in action below…
