Europe has always been ahead of the field when it comes to robot lawn mowers. And the Turflynx F315 is no different as it’s being billed as the “first driverless fairway mower.”
A human actually has to drive the Turflynx F315 from its storage location to the nearest fairway, so it’s not completely autonomous just yet. But then the robot lawn mower will automatically start cutting that fairway at the scheduled time following the pre-programmed route that is set using an app on a smartphone, tablet or laptop. It will even autonomously drive to the next fairway on the golf course that needs cutting.
Turflynx, which is based in Portugal, says the F315 driverless fairway mower can cut seven average-size fairways on a single charge. The F315 is electric, is powered by lithium batteries, and charges in four to five hours.
When finished, the F315 will be ready for pick-up near its storage location. Turflynx says operational reports are generated automatically after each use, and history and maintenance alerts can be found on the web interface.
Turflynx worked with greenskeepers to produce a silent machine and distract golfers during their back-swings. Turflynx says fairways account for more than 50 percent of a golf course’s mowing costs, adding that the F315 will reduce those costs by 80 percent.
The F315 is currently being sold in Europe and is expected to hit the U.S. market in 2017. Turflynx has been developing the F315 for more than 8 years and will sell it for between 80,000-100,000 Euros ($89,254-$111,568) depending on the version.
At this point, Turflynx has done pilot installations at the following golf courses throughout Europe:
- Orizonte Santo Estevao Golf (Portugal)
- Beloura Pestana Golf Resort (Portugal)
- Iberostar Novo Sancti Petri Golf Club (Spain)
- Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Course (England)
- Delfland Golf Course (The Netherlands)
