I have about 8 years of experience using multiple Robomow RL2000’s and a single Robomow RS630 for mowing large areas on 4 X domestic lawns which together total over 100,000 square metres of grass.
I was wondering if anybody had any experience of using Robot mowers to mow grass parking for Aircraft?
I know the Robomow models of mowers would be totally unsuitable as the (non driven) single front wheels jam on mole hills and ruts after which the back wheels dig themselves in. The newer RS630 has a smaller front wheel than the 10 year old models and gets stuck more frequently. They work well on a nice smooth mole-free lawns though!
In theory Robotic mowers should be great for quite a few clubs as the mowers can get under wings of parked planes and can be set to go out at night. They save lots of labour costs and as they mow every day you don’t need to collect the grass. I found the “payback” to be well under 24 months. What is needed is a decent 4 wheel drive mower that can power it’s way through the ruts and have the usual bumper sensors so they bounce off the wheel fairings and change direction.
Is any body out there doing this in a real life Airfield?
I just edited my post as Googling around it looks like this is used at an Airfield in Sicily!
“the usual bumper sensors so they bounce off the wheel fairings and change direction.”
Tailwheel, or even worse, tailwheel?
Our office Robomow 630 used to get stuck quite often, but the optional wide wheels help a lot. I think the Husqvarna robots deal more effectively with stone-infested molehills due to their cheaper hinged blades.
But is it really necessary to cut grass in parking areas? I mean, surely a decent sward just keeps a few pneumatically-challenged “tarmac queens” where they belong…
I am not sure many airfield owners would have the confidence to let such a device loose when there are other peoples’ planes parked there. Especially at night when you can’t see what it’s doing.
I would be very wary about letting a machine with whirling death blades work unsupervised near aircraft or people. I’d still want to supervise it.
And if I’ve got to supervise it, I might as well save my money and continue doing it this way:
Then there’s the eco-friendly StripHelper Energy Efficient Pod, which removes and recycles the grass as it cuts it, automatically spreading manure. Never gets stuck on an airstrip.
(Better known by it’s acronym.)
They are self-replicating too, however, you will probably need to make a low pass to before landing to tell them to leave the runway before you try to land!
Don’t you also need a male variant for that?
But seriously I see the same problem with the robot mower as with sheep. You would need to not be using it (the robot I mean) when someone is taking off or landing.
Do the robots use IR or ultrasound obstacle detection, so could work at night? Also at night the grass is usually extremely wet.
I think it is pretty common for these robots, at least the smaller one that you keep around your house, to have them work only at night. That would be excellent for airstrips since most grass strips are not used for night flying anyway.
