One of Europe’s leading
manufacturers of battery powered domestic lawnmowers and garden machinery
believes the combination of digital technology, battery power and high fuel
costs will force a total rethink about the way the British mow their lawns and
look after their gardens, with wireless technology charting the way forward.
STIGA
is one of the leading brands of battery powered garden equipment in the UK and
mainland Europe and believes the greater connectivity they now build into their
equipment will increasingly encourage customers to follow on from the ‘smart
home’ developments that are sweeping throughout the West into the garden.
Italian
lawncare expert, Fabio Banin, works at STIGA’s headquarters in Veneto in
Northern Italy. He works closely with the company’s r&d
division and believes that digital and battery powered technology will take
over gardening with automated watering and mowing in the future.
He
says: “It is clear that wireless connectivity and energy efficiency will be the
future. We are seeing the ‘smart home’ continuing outdoors. Digital
is taking over gardening. We are also seeing increasing numbers of garden
owners wanting to control their garden tools via apps. They also want
products that are more convenient such as robotic mowers without the boundary
wire.
“In
the UK you have STIGA battery operated tractor mowers as well as other hand
tools that run on the same batteries. You already have robotic mowers
that work with specially developed algorithms and without the need for a cable.”
STIGA UK’s Gary
Whitney broadly agreed: “We already have much of this technology within our
current range. There is no doubt that robotic lawnmowers are taking an
increasing market share in the UK and this will continue. The role of
battery power, in lawnmowers in particular, has been given the most enormous
boost by the steepling rise in fuel costs. We already have a full
wireless controlled robotic mower and the products of the future will reflect
this move towards Britain becoming a nation of ‘smart gardeners’.”
