I-Corps Teams Program: Autonomous Robotic Mower applied to Labor Shortage in Landscaping

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是解决园林绿化组织劳动力短缺问题的一个办法。目前解决员工招聘和留住问题的方法缺乏技术创新。私人，美化组织雇用更多的员工，以抵消辞职员工，支付更高的工资，参加招聘会，张贴报纸/在线广告，并雇用H2 B工人。劳工部的H2 B签证计划提供了大约10%的园林绿化劳动力。根据各种消息来源，包括亲自采访客户，劳动力短缺在园林绿化行业是一个主要因素，抑制园林绿化公司的增长。该研究团队正在开发一种产品，以帮助美国小企业继续为客户服务并发展业务。这个I-Corps项目提出了机器人技术，以帮助解决劳动力短缺问题。使用机器人嵌入式技术，研究小组已经实现了先进的算法，引导机器人原型沿着用户定义的轨迹。该产品的机电一体化设计与算法开发相结合，为机器人原型的未来提供了充满希望的见解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is a solution to the labor shortage problem in landscaping organizations. Current solutions to the employee recruitment and retention problem lack technological innovation. Primarily, landscaping organizations hire more employees to offset resigning employees, pay higher wages, attend careers fairs, post newspaper/online ads, and hire H2B workers. The Department of Labor H2B visa program supplies approximately 10% of the landscaping workforce. According to a variety of sources, including in-person customer interviews, labor shortages in the landscaping industry are a major factor inhibiting landscaping companies' growth. This research team is developing a product to assist American small business with continuing to serve their customers and grow their businesses. This I-Corps project proposes robotic technology to help solve the labor shortage problem. Using robotic embedded technology the research team has implemented advanced algorithms to guide a robot prototype along a user defined trajectory. The mechatronic design of the product combined with the algorithm development gives hopeful insight into robotic prototypes' future.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.