Multi Lawn Care System Robotic mower fleets to take care of large green areas and replace the fossil-fuel powered mowers

Project Information

MLS

Grant agreement ID: 868350

DOI

10.3030/868350

Project closed

EC signature date 23 April 2019

Start date 1 May 2019

End date 31 August 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

ROBOTIC LAWN CARE SWEDEN AB
Sweden

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MLS (Multi Lawn Care System Robotic mower fleets to take care of large green areas and replace the fossil-fuel powered mowers)

Reporting period: 2019-05-01 to 2019-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Currently, all robotic lawn mowers available in the market are designed for a stationary setup, leading to high upfront investments low efficiency per area in large green areas. On top of this, they also require a costly/hazardous electrical installation in connection to every grass field. After carefully assessing this problem, we created Multi Lawn Care System (MLS), a flexible service relying on a fleet of robots that can be moved between fields easily (avoiding robots’ idle time) without the need for power grid connections.
With MLS, we create a superior workflow with robots that can work for longer periods to cover larger areas independently of the weather, greatly increasing mowing capacity, which in turn results in a reduction of costs and increased profitability. MLS programs the mowing work according to the mowing area and frequency. Our preliminary pilot tests in Sweden have demonstrated unique features (up to 60% less mowing costs, 50% more autonomy, 85% less staff requirements), environmental friendliness (thirty-fold less energy consumption, 96% less emissions) and top-quality results (significantly reduced noise & better-looking lawns) of MLS. We observed that there is a clear demand for solutions like ours.
EIC Accelerator program, will be key to reach the TRL9 through the technical improvement and commercial readiness.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During this study, we established a roadmap for rapidly commercializing MLS.
In Section 1, we elaborate the required technical development plan, present the details of our pilot testing to validate MLS final design and disclose our certification & value chain optimization programs to reduce costs. We also include a complete risk analysis for all our project activities including the corresponding mitigation & contingency measures.
In Section 2, we present an analysis of the global lawn care market including needs of customers, trends, main drivers and competitors, and identify our visible opportunities. We also present our commercial viability including partner definition, business strategy and communication & dissemination activities. We conclude this section with a detailed patent search that confirmed our freedom to operate.
In section 3, we present our financial forecasn & budget to accomplish the project.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The global market for landscaping & gardening industry and services is expected to reach $224.7 billion by 2021 with an expected CAGR of 7%. The robotic lawn mower market is growing even faster with a 17% CAGR driven by the replacement of conventionally used fossil-fuel powered mowers with electric robotics and is expected to reach €2 billion by 2022. By the end of 2026, we forecast 11 new full-time job positions and 540 rented MLS systems, generating €39.5 million of cumulative revenues with a ROI of 7.11.
Having carefully analyzed all technical, commercial, and financial aspects, we confirm that MLS is a breakthrough innovation with a potential to revamp lawn maintenance both in Europe and global scale. Hence, we will further invest in our project and we will seek EIC Accelerator funding support from the Horizon 2020 program.

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