Autonomous mower equipped with sensors and AI

Fully autonomous mower project: cost reduction and business development

## Background

A medium-sized company based in Poland specializing in industrial R&D solutions had their hands full with four ongoing R&D projects. Moreover, some of them were so promising, that they wanted to level them up to a startup company and get their products on the market. In addition, at the moment they were lacking business management personnel with technological backgrounds. Consequently, the company decided to search for a person to take over and develop one of their flagship technological projects – the fully autonomous mower.

## The Problem

The Client started an R&D project using the funds from the Polish National Centre for Research and Development. The project was nearing its end, and so the Client had to show the results of their efforts. Although the autonomous mowing robot was functional and almost ready for potential use, it required adapting to the rough market reality. The Client identified the following challenges:

unspecified use cases and product market fit that further hindered the transformation from a grant project to a technological startup company;
high BOM cost that deterred both potential investors and buyers;
an uncertain future that left the core team with low morale.

## The Solution

We proposed one of our team members, who was most suited for the job – Jakub. The cooperation started with a few warm-up meetings. During the meetups the team and Jakub focused on getting to know one another, analysis and diagnosis of the project. Finally, after heavy brainstorming, the Client’s team and Jakub came up with the below:

a business and technological strategy for development and an execution plan spanning two years;
a recruitment plan to strengthen the team and fill the gaps in competencies;
searching for partnerships with OEMs;
uniform marketing strategy: creating a webpage, YouTube channel, LinkedIn presence, and attending landscaping fairs.

## The Process

The whole two-year project was conducted in a hybrid manner. Jakub was present during fairs and all key meetings with the team and business partners. The Client was informed weekly on the project’s progress and could freely give suggestions.

Although the team was offered relative freedom in the technological aspect, Jakub shaped the product based on the strategy and current business data available. The control of implemented ideas was conducted in-team.

The recruitment of new members was done by two people – one from /dev, and the other from the Client’s side.

## The Effect

After the project, the Client was left with a strong, developed R&D project just a step away from becoming a fully-fledged startup company. The key effects of our cooperation were:

BOM cost halved, despite the component price increase;
fully working autonomy kit for a McConnel S300 slope mower;
the team gained experience with building industrial partnerships through 2 manufacturing contracts with 2 different European companies;
additionally, having open talks with other 6 manufacturers (4 placed in the USA) allowed them to build further relationships within the contacts made in the industry;
engaged, highly competent, and enthusiastic team with most core members still present;
through carefully tailored and executed marketing strategy, the project received recognition in the industry, and leading manufacturers were aware of its existence.

## Autonomous mower Project Resources

Some of the marketing resources created during various field tests of the mowing robot. It’s autonomous operation is clearly visible on the video.

About the autonomous mower consulting project

## Project Background

A medium-sized company based in Poland required a person to manage their R&D project. If possible, they also wanted to transform it to a startup company. As the project was partially funded by the Polish National Centre for Research and Development, it also had specified deadlines and objectives to meet.

## The Team

As the Client searched for only one person skilled in both business management and technological project development, Jakub was the best fit. This time he was the only one delegated to support the company.

## The Result

The cooperation ended with meeting all the Client’s objectives: reduced BOM cost, motivated adn efficient engineering team, recognition in the industry with a working marketing strategy and two industrial partnerships, and more.

Woman touching an intuitive industrial HMI panel at an assembly line in a factory

HMI panel enabling detailed insights and control in a factory

The HMI application improved visibility into the production quality process:

operators quickly trace issues to specific inspection events, reducing the time spent on fault diagnostics;
process engineers can access historical data e.g. in case of reclamation and improve their quality assurance process;
staff training became easier thanks to the clear, dashboard-style interface;
maintaining high inspection standards became simpler.

Moreover, by automating the pairing of image and PLC data and flagging anomalies early, the system helps in preventing production errors from going unnoticed.

Cortiview 2 - the data acquisition app on a tablet screen held by a researcher.

Expanding the vision: creating a neurophysiological data acquisition app from scratch

The Client met their target deadline for the device’s demo with a fully functional platform with:
– a better UX and improved scallability,
– algorithm sharing between multiple projects.