Swiss company Ronovatec AG, the developer of the fully electronic, multifunctional equipment carrier for sports field maintenance, has received a CHF 3 million (EUR 3.1 million) loan guarantee from the Technology Fund.

Ronovatec’s three-wheel Rovimo is an electrical-driven tool carrier that has a battery capacity of 15 kWh. Depending on the activity, this allows it to manage approximately 21,000m2 in 12 hours autonomously. A fully-charged Rovimo can mow 16,000m3 in five to six hours while the charging cycle only takes two hours. The robot uses high-precision vehicle control and operation to locate, navigate and to correct its course in real-time. It navigates by means of a 3D Lidar scanner.

Variety of activities

At present, the Rovimo is only fitted with a 30 inch (76 cm), 7-blade Infinicut spindle cylinder to autonomously mow sports fields. From 2023, the range of tools will be extended with a brush for brushing synthetic turf fields, three spindle cylinders for maintaining three-dimensional green spaces as well as a line drawing unit to autonomously mark sports fields.

The unit weighs 300kg to avoid compaction of the turf and is fitted with Sick OutdoorScan3 technology to prevent the robot from colliding with people or animals.

The first unit was delivered to France-based MGE in mid-July. Further projects are planned in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, the UK and Italy.

By issuing a loan guarantee, the Swiss Technology Fund bridges the gap between start-up funding and regular corporate loans for SME’s. The loan guarantees are only available to Swiss companies whose novel products contribute to a sustainable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.