Autonomous Mowers Working in Narrow Spaces: A Possible Future Application in Agriculture?

Abstract

Autonomous mowers are becoming increasingly common in public and private greenspaces. Autonomous mowers can provide several advantages since these machines help to save time and energy and prevent operators from possible injuries. Current autonomous mowers operate by following random trajectories within areas defined by a shallow-buried boundary wire that has the purpose to generate an electro-magnetic field. Once the electro-magnetic field is perceived by the autonomous mower, the machine will stop and change direction. Mowing along random trajectories is considered an efficient solution to manage areas with a variable number of obstacles. In agriculture, autonomous technologies are becoming increasingly popular since they can help to increase both the quantity and quality of agricultural products by reducing productive cost and improving the production process. Thus, even autonomous mowers may be useful to carry out some of the agricultural operations that are highly time consuming. In fact, some autonomous mowers designed and realized to work in vineyards and home vegetable gardens are already available on the market. The aim of this study was to compare the work capacity of six autonomous mowers that move along random trajectories in areas with a high number of obstacles to assess if these machines may be employed in some agricultural contexts. The six autonomous mowers were split in three groups based on their size (large, medium, and small) and were left to work in two areas with equal number of obstacles but different layouts. The first area (Site A) had a square shape and an extension of 23.04 m2, in order to keep the autonomous mowers enclosed inside it. The second area (Site B) had a square shape and an extension of 84.64 m2, in order to have a part of the area with no obstacles. The layout and the size of the two areas affected the autonomous mowers performances in different ways. The six autonomous mowers working on Site A obtained similar results and higher performances compared to the same mowers working on Site B. All the autonomous mowers proved to be able to mow more than 89% of Site A after 2 h and more than 98% of Site A after 5 h. On Site B small size autonomous mowers obtained the best results mowing more than 83% of the area with obstacles after 2 h and more than 98% of the area with obstacles after 5 h. However, specific work settings allowed larger autonomous mowers to improve their efficiency, obtaining similar results compared to smaller autonomous mowers.

Autonomous Mowing and Turf-Type Bermudagrass as Innovations for An Environment-Friendly Floor Management of a Vineyard in Coastal Tuscany

“…The random operating pattern of the autonomous mower turned into frequent overlapping, leading to an overall higher working time to mow a given area compared to a systematic operating pattern. The autonomous mowers' efficiency was close to 37% for a surface with no obstacles [34], while in an area with many obstacles, such as the vineyard, the working efficiency of the machine results were even lower [25]. Despite a higher working time, during both years, the primary energy consumption of the innovative management system was lower compared to the primary energy consumption of the conventional management system.…”

“…Autonomous mowers are battery-powered machines designed to autonomously perform lawn mowing that offer high energy efficiency [20], with no local pollution from exhaust gasses and noise emissions, preventing operators from coming into contact with allergens [21,22]. Although not yet designed for agriculture purposes, autonomous mowers may improve vineyard floor management sustainability as a consequence of their reduced ground pressure [23], their high frequency of cut [24] and their ability to move between vine plants [25]. Continuous mowing has the potential to prevent weeds from excessive vertical development [26] and to encourage bermudagrass lateral growth [27].…”

“…Continuous mowing has the potential to prevent weeds from excessive vertical development [26] and to encourage bermudagrass lateral growth [27]. The possibility to work both between the rows and under-trellis [25] allows to mow the entire cultivated area, reducing the need for chemical weed control.…”

Autonomous Mowing and Complete Floor Cover for Weed Control in Vineyards

“…The custom-built software calculates the area mowed by the autonomous mower over a given period of time, based on the distance traveled and the cutting width. The mowed area data were recorded every 15 min and are reported as a percentage of the total area [37].…”

“…In this trial, significant reductions of power consumption and CO 2 emissions were observed compared to the ordinary technique. Despite designed for lawns mowing, autonomous mowers have shown promising results for agricultural purposes [28,37] due to their reduced size and high frequency of cut [38]. This last characteristic has the potential to exert a continuous mechanical control of both CC and weeds, preventing them from reaching an undesirable vertical growth [38].…”