MORGANTOWN — The robogoats are coming!!
Morgantown City Council has approved a three-year agreement with a Nashville-based company, My Goat, to provide an initial fleet of 12 autonomous mowers (goats) and the company’s proprietary guidance software.
The year one cost to the airport’s budget will be $118,220.
Airport Director Jonathan Vrabel explained the company will section the public portions of the airport grounds into 60 mowing areas, or pens.
Each morning, airport personnel will place a specific robot in a specific pen and let them run. The units – each about 27 pounds and the size of a large pizza box – will be placed back in a solar charging trailer at the end of the day.
The mowers will be from various manufacturers, selected by My Goat for their capabilities and the specific terrain they’ll be tasked with mowing.
The city won’t own any of the hardware, but will work with the company to fine-tune the service.
“So, for instance, if we’re finding that the goats that we get in one area may not work real well because maybe we have too much slope, we’ll swap them out for a different style at their cost,” Vrabel said, explaining much of the expense is a subscription to the unique software developed by My Goat, which can be used to control autonomous mowers from any manufacturer.
He estimates the service will save the airport about $32,000 annually over manual mowing and will fully return the investment in 18 months or so.
It will also remove most, but not all, of the mowing duties from the facility’s small staff. Per regulations, the airfield will still be mowed manually.
“Now, the thing to understand is I only have two maintenance guys, and they do all maintenance. That’s building maintenance, airfield maintenance, vehicle maintenance,” Vrabel said. “And they’ve got to do all that mowing. They have very little time to do mowing. So, there have been times over this past year, if you’ve been to the airport, you’ve seen the grass has been high in front of the terminal. That’s because we just can’t get to it. This way, we can keep it looking nice. We’re having a much busier airport now with the carrier we have flying in. We need to keep it presentable.”
The service markets itself to solar farms, cities, airports, cemeteries, golf courses and schools.
According to the My Goat website, there are currently 14 customers, largely situated in the southeastern United States.
Vrabel said Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport is one of those customers, noting “They’ve been using it now for over a year. They love it. They’re actually expanding their fleet now.”
Councilor Danielle Trumble, the lone member of council to vote against the measure, said she still has concerns.
“The fact that it’s a sole-source contract indicates to me that this is a relatively new and still emerging market and technology, and I’m concerned that we’re paying a premium to be an early adopter of this,” she said, later adding “I have a Roomba at my house and it does a really Ok job on the day-to-day, but I still have to have a regular vacuum and go around behind it at least once a week … So, I don’t know how much of a cost savings it’s actually going to resolve in, and we have a very, very tight budget this year and in coming years.”
Deputy Mayor Jenny Selin thanked Vrabel for his willingness to explore all available options to maximize efficiency at the airport.
“I really appreciate you coming out with this and checking on it and looking at other airports who have already been doing this and giving it a go. It sounds like something we can benefit from and worth, given the return on investment, giving it a try,” Selin said.
