Electric Sheep Robotics' Dexter Brings Autonomous Navigation to Lawn Mowers
iRobot announced the Terra three years ago. After some tough internal decisions and a delayed launch in 2020, the robot lawn mower remains missing in action. For those with a lot of grass and far less time, there are still a few robotic mowers on both the commercial and consumer sides.
Electric Sheep Robotics' approach is somewhat new, though, similar to what Bear Flag Robotics (owned by John Deere) is doing for tractors. Dexter, which recently became generally available, retrofits new and existing commercial mowers with autonomous capabilities.
Electric Sheep Robotics, a developer of autonomous navigation technology for lawn mowers, has raised $21.5 million in funding. The company also announced the general availability of its Dexter system, which turns existing commercial lawn mowers, both gas and electric, into autonomous mowers.
Dexter attaches to new or existing lawn mowers to autonomously cut grass of any type. According to Electric Sheep Robotics, landscapers show Dexter what to do once manually, and then the robot repeats those actions on its own.
Dexter uses LiDAR, cameras, GPS and ultrasonic sensors to navigate rough terrain. It has over-the-air firmware updates and includes a safety-rated system capable of detecting perimeter breaches. Dexter is being developed in line with the emerging R15.08 standard for autonomous robots and is available with no upfront costs under a robots-as-a-service (RaaS) model.
“I don't think people realize that lawns are America's largest crop. Lawns get more land and water than wheat and corn combined, and more than 40 million acres of land in the US have some form of lawn. $20 billion is spent each year just on mowing lawns. Solutions like Dexter from Electric Sheep help our customers meet demand and better allocate their already scarce workforce”
Electric Sheep said it will use the funding to expand all departments to meet growing customer demand. The company said it currently has contracts with 30 customers in the US.
In November 2021, a record 4.5 million American workers quit their jobs. There are more job openings than workers. The landscaping labor market is particularly bad. According to the National Association of Landscape Professionals, tens of thousands of full-time positions remain unfilled. 2021 has been called the "worst labor market in recent history."
“The technology Electric Sheep has brought to market completely changes the game. Our industry won't be waiting long. The landscaping industry, like many others, is facing a severe labor shortage, and for us COVID-19 has only worsened a problem that already existed. Automating our mowing work lets our teams refocus their attention on more specialized work at our clients' properties, the work they truly enjoy. We also firmly believe this opens the door for young people to get interested in gardening. This technology offers unique opportunities for the next generation to join an industry they would not normally consider”
Tiger Global led the company's funding round. To date, Electric Sheep Robotics has raised $25.7 million. Other investors include Foundation Capital, Signia Venture Partners, and individual investors Ariel Cohen (TripActions), Travis Dale (Cobalt Robotics), Sahil Lavingia (Gumroad) and Reinforced Ventures.
“Automating the $115 billion outdoor maintenance market is a huge opportunity hiding in plain sight. Electric Sheep leads in developing fully autonomous solutions. We are pleased to invest and help them strengthen their leadership position”
Michael Mayberry of Level Green Landscaping said: "If the last few years have taught us anything else, they have made us more adaptable to change. Leading landscaping companies are turning to automation to help manage the toughest work environment I have ever seen. Thanks to autonomous mowing, one of the least skilled tasks my team performs, Electric Sheep helps us automate our way out of an acute labor shortage."
Electric Sheep Robotics was founded in 2019 by CEO Nag Murthy, COO Jarrett Herold and CFO Ganjit Singh. The company launched its first paid pilot in March 2020 and has since steadily increased its deployments and customer base. Using a robotics-as-a-service model, Electric Sheep retrofits existing commercial landscaping products into autonomous machines, addressing the acute labor shortage in the industry. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, with additional offices in Greater Philadelphia.
