The Dreamie smart lawn mower shined at the 2024 IFA exhibition and won the Golden Computer Award – Annual Innovation Award issued by the German media COMPUTER BILD. How did this seemingly niche product compete with star products such as Samsung S24 Ultra, ChatGPT, Canon EOS R100 and Volkswagen ID7 and win?
A 10 billion market, smart lawn mowers open a new chapter
In China, lawn mowers mainly serve the fields of community property and sanitation. However, in Europe and the United States, lawn mowers are a daily necessity for families, and the lawn needs to be mowed 2-3 times a month on average. According to Grand View Research data, the global lawn mower market size will exceed US$30 billion in 2021, with an average annual compound growth rate of 5.7%. With the rise in labor costs, smart lawn mowers are gradually favored by European and American users. Modor Intelligence predicts that from 2021 to 2027, the market size of robot lawn mowers will increase from US$1.5 billion to US$3.9 billion. The market penetration rate of smart lawn mowers is low, and the blue ocean is vast. The annual shipment volume is only 900,000 units, and the market penetration rate is only 4%. The Chaimi lawn mower robot A1 and its OmniSense™ 3D super-sensing system have therefore attracted much attention and won the Innovation Award. Domestic manufacturers such as Ninebot, Ecovacs, Dongcheng, and Daye have also entered the overseas market of smart lawn mowers.
Technical Challenges and Connector Selection
Smart lawn mowers have obvious advantages, but the technical route is not yet determined. For example, technologies such as navigation positioning, path planning, obstacle detection, and human-computer interaction still need breakthroughs, which affect performance, efficiency, and user experience. As a key component, the selection of connectors is crucial. Smart lawn mowers require high-reliability, waterproof and dustproof, high-speed data transmission, and wear-resistant connectors to adapt to complex environments and ensure stable operation of the equipment.
1. High-precision navigation requirements
Smart lawn mowers are usually equipped with advanced navigation systems to ensure that mowing tasks can be completed accurately and efficiently. Therefore, the connector needs to meet the needs of high-precision navigation signal transmission to ensure the stability and accuracy of the navigation system. This requires the connector to have excellent signal transmission performance and anti-interference capabilities.
2. Efficient power transmission needs
Smart lawn mowers consume a lot of electricity when running, so the connector needs to have good power transmission performance. Specifically, the connector needs to be able to withstand large currents and ensure that there will be no problems such as overheating and loosening during transmission.
3. Stable mechanical connection requirements
When working outdoors, smart lawn mowers face various complex environmental conditions, such as high-frequency vibration, strong pulling, etc. Therefore, the connector needs to have stable mechanical connection performance to ensure that it will not loosen or fall off in harsh environments.
4. Dustproof, waterproof and corrosion-resistant requirements
When used outdoors, smart lawn mowers need to face the challenges of harsh environments such as dust and rain. Therefore, the connector needs to have good dust and water resistance to ensure the safety and stability of the internal circuit. In addition, since corrosive substances such as oxalic acid will be spread during mowing operations, the connector also needs to be able to resist erosion by these corrosive substances.
5. Meet environmental protection standards
As global environmental awareness increases, smart lawn mower connectors also need to comply with relevant environmental standards. For example, they need to meet the requirements of international environmental regulations such as ROHS2.0, REACH, and California 65. This requires connectors to use environmentally friendly materials during the production process and avoid the use of hazardous substances.
Smart lawn mower market has broad prospects
The smart lawn mower market is growing rapidly, and major domestic manufacturers are making plans. The European and American markets have low penetration rates, great development space, and explosive growth potential. In the future, smart lawn mowers will pay more attention to the application of electrification, intelligence, high efficiency, low noise, and environmental protection and energy-saving technologies. Enterprises need to continue to innovate to meet consumers’ demand for efficient and environmentally friendly products.
