Scythe Robotics published a case study showcasing the capabilities of its M.52 electric fully autonomous commercial mower during a successful deployment at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Turfscape, a contractor specializing in creating and maintaining commercial properties in northeastern Ohio, collaborated with Scythe to improve the operating efficiencies and service quality of their on-site crew as they maintain the school’s public spaces and its baseball, softball and athletic practice fields at a high level. This partnership also allowed Scythe to gather insights on mowing in a new region, assess cut quality on sports fields and test remote serviceability for the machines.
“We are thrilled to share the success story of our collaboration with Turfscape,” said Michael Mayberry, director of customer success for Scythe Robotics. “This case study details the impact M.52 can create and exemplifies Scythe’s commitment to delivering innovative mowing solutions that meet the unique challenges faced by our clients in caring for commercial properties.”
The Turfscape team operating on-site deployed a pair of M.52 units to the 60-acre university campus. With a full-service grounds maintenance program that includes lawn care, mowing and maintenance, trash patrol, and spring and fall cleanup, time is a precious commodity for the Turfscape crew.
Before the deployment, they were tied to their mowers and could not multitask. “The only thing they were getting done was mowing and with a college or university maintenance program there are always multiple components and other tasks to be done,” Mayberry continued. “Turfscape saw the potential for M.52 to help make their approach more efficient.”
After an initial assessment of how to best fit M.52 into the program, the crew quickly took ownership of the mowers and realized their potential to positively change how they performed their jobs.
“Before M.52, I would alternate weeks trimming and edging the baseball and softball fields,” said Turfscape job supervisor Taylor Laduca, describing the task flow for maintaining the athletics complex. “But now with the robot on the crew, I can do both on a weekly basis, assuring that the quality is always up to par.”
Autonomous mowing also allowed the crew to focus on the rest of the program’s requirements across campus and proactively tackle the to-do list, something they always wanted to do but didn’t have the time to before. The Turfscape operators said using M.52 was equivalent to adding another crew member to the team – without adding labor costs – as it increased efficiencies and expanded the work the crew could do with the time allotted.
In addition to the benefits their client experienced, the crew fully enjoyed mowing with M.52, too. They feel the possibilities are endless with autonomous mowing technology from Scythe.
“One of the most common questions I get is, ‘Are you afraid that it’s going to take your job?’” explained Turfscape field manager Joe Laduca. “And the answer is, no I’m not. At first, I was a little skeptical like that but now that I’ve mowed with M.52, I couldn’t imagine working any other way.”
The full case study is available on the Scythe website.