A “Nishitsu Detective” segment where Nishitsu writers look into mysteries and questions around Nishinomiya and turn them into articles.
This time, the request comes from “Noririn.”
We Went to Check It Out Right Away
Kwansei Gakuin. When you enter and head straight in…
You’ll find the Central Lawn. It’s an incredibly lovely space, and I’m sure many people in the neighborhood go walking there.
Apparently, several flat machines are moving back and forth across this Central Lawn while glowing.
Here’s what stands out:
“Let’s take good care of the lawn”
“Exercise on the lawn is prohibited”
You can tell they really, really take good care of the lawn.
Night fell.
Kwansei Gakuin takes such careful care of this lawn.
And then, a mysterious light?!
What’s that flat thing?!
It’s moving along the ground.
It looks kind of awesome! A new type of remote-control lawn gadget?
It’s the robotic lawn mower “AUTOMOWER”. Apparently, two of them are in action. Kind of like a lawn-mowing version of a Roomba
Since it’s an overseas product, even the control-panel-like part looks pretty cool.
It has ultrasonic sensors, and it slows down when there’s an obstacle.
It was glowing at night because its lights were on.
It has built-in GPS and knows its own position, so it can mow the lawn efficiently. You can even see the path showing where it has mowed.
It’s a smart robot that automatically returns to its charging station and recharges like this. Mr. Okazaki from Takarazuka Ryokka Co., Ltd., which manages the university’s landscaping, was pleased too, saying, “It gets the job done steadily even on rainy days without a single complaint. It’s more capable than a human!”
Apparently, these started operating in 2021. They were released in 2020, so Kwansei Gakuin decided to introduce them super quickly
The Automowers are out of service from 11月～4月, so please note that you can’t see them right now. The grass doesn’t really grow during this season, after all
Oh, right.
At Kwansei Gakuin, certain trees have been designated as important landscape trees. In simple terms, they’re important trees that help create beautiful scenery. These trees are symbols that express the character of the local area, and trees that local people love and feel attached to can receive this designation.
Takarazuka Ryokka Co., Ltd. handles all of those wonderful trees. Since they manage the landscaping for such a large campus, it makes sense that they were quick to introduce the latest technology.
Actually, I wanted to publish this article around November 2022, but due to my mistake, it never went out💦 What a mess～～
In Closing
When I looked up the price of this robotic lawn mower, it was 689,700 yen. As expected, pricey! But when you think about labor costs, apparently it ends up being incredibly economical. Nishinomiya may become a city where robots play more and more active roles in the future. Still, since it’s made in Sweden, the design is great too, almost like a sports car.
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