Cutting grass at Slippery Rock University is a little easier this summer.
The university used a grant to purchase a robotic lawn mower. It will soon begin cutting the grass in the quarter-acre courtyard outside the south entrance of the Student Success Center on SRU’s campus in northern Butler County.
The two-square-foot Automower 315X can cut up to four-tenths of an acre and run up to 70 minutes on one charge. It then retreats to its charging station, where it charges itself and then resumes its schedule.
The mower is operated by an app on a cell phone. It can mow at anytime, including in the rain.
SRU Assistant Director of Campus Services Dallas Cott used a green fund grant to purchase the device. He said turning over some of the grass cutting duties to the robot allows his staff to focus their attention elsewhere on campus.
“This is a high-profile area that a lot of students and parents see, so it’s important to keep it well-groomed at all times,” Cott said. “We can’t get a riding mower into the courtyard, so we had to bring in a push mower. (Having this Automower) allows us to focus that couple hours of labor per week elsewhere on campus.”
