They develop new features for Husqvarna Automower

Engineering students at the School of Engineering (JTH) at Jönköping University (JU) have developed new features for Husqvarna Automower. They presented their proposals to Husqvarna Group on May 23.

"We are here to find the next star, who will help us in the development of new robots," says Erik Hårsmar, Manager R&D Robotics at Husqvarna Group.

Summertime is lawn mowing time and a group of about 90 JTH students have been working on how to improve the Husqvarna Automover by adding new functions to them during the course "Intelligent mobile systems". The student team that Artan Bajqinca was part of added a fertilizer spreader to their lawn mowing robot, which they call "Spreadbee".

"The idea was to make something that could be used by many. "Spreadbee" spreads manure or grass seeds on a lawn and could be developed to identify areas that need extra fertilization. It can also salt slippery roads in winter in, for example, a residential area," says Artan Bajqinca.

"You can not get much closer to working life"

The students in the project are in the final stages of their education, the computer engineering programs Embedded Systems as well as Software Development and Mobile Platforms. A number of international students have also taken the course.

"The collaboration with Husqvarna have been very good and it has been rewarding to work in large student groups on a real project. You can not get much closer to working life than this," says Artan, who has already found a job as an app developer at Awaio.

"Great that the students also see these needs"

Erik Hårsmar and Jesper Persson, Manager R&D Robotics and Software Engineer at Husqvarna respectively, were pleased with what they saw from the students' presentations. Especially those who had a clear vision of what they wanted to do.

"The students should not hang up on the fact that it is a robotic lawnmower, but think that it is a robot and what else you can use it for more than cutting the grass," says Erik Hårsmar.

They liked the robot mower that was equipped with a fertilizer spreader. They also highlighted the group that had equipped their Automower with a moisture meter, which is inserted into the ground to check the condition of the lawn and whether it needs extra nutrition.

"These are things that our research department at Husqvarna has been looking at over the years and could become a reality one day. It is great that students also see these needs," says Erik Hårsmar.

"Finding people here all the time"

Erik and Jesper see several potential future workers among the students who participated in the project. Jesper Persson who studied Embedded Systems at JTH is one of those who have made that journey and several of their colleagues have studied at JTH.

"We find people here all the time," says Erik.