Robotic Mowers Cut Grass On University Of Tulsa Campus

Robots are now roaming the University of Tulsa's campus this semester and many people are stopping and staring on their way to class.

TU's new robotic mowers are doing more than just cutting grass, they're also stealing hearts.

The four new robotic mowers munch on campus grass giving it a nice clean cut.

"On a commercial scale, this is one of the first ones that I've seen in Tulsa, and I really haven't seen in Oklahoma," said Brody Townsend, Account Manager for ROARK.

The university's landscape company, ROARK, said the electric machines are 8 times more energy efficient than a traditional lawnmower.

"The university has a long history of sustainability efforts, and we love to be on the forefront of anything that is good for the environment," said Matt Warren, VP of TU.

"It's super quiet. It stays below like 50 decibels," said Townsend.

"It doesn't have to be great weather. They're very sort of resilient machines," said Warren.

Each mower can do roughly six acres and works best in large, open spaces easy for geofencing.

It took about a week to get the grass to where it needs to be; now, it works like clockwork.

"You're mowing every 2 hours and it charges for 1. Keeps going out all night, all day so you never really have any growth period," said Townsend.

"Just like a roomba, they have sensors built in all around them so if they get close to any object or person or animal, they know to immediately stop and shift directions," said Warren.

Warren said students created the Instagram account for the mowers with fun captions.

Some comments include 'truly gorgeous,' 'he is so cute,' 'my boi,' 'lawn roomba my beloved,' and 'I love TU lawn roomba.'

"I made a comment to a coworker. They're gonna have to mow all night cause they're not getting any mowing done during the day because the students kept playing with them," said Townsend.

Warren said TU is launching a campus wide naming campaign for the robots.

Some suggestions on Instagram include William, Roombie, Groomba, Lawson or Lance the Lawn Roomba, and Mr. Munchy.