According to RideApart’s Enrico Punsalang, Segway PowerSports posted a massive 309% year-on-year growth in USA during 2024, and an even bigger 343% increase in Q1. What makes Segway’s figures more impressive is that overall the sector has reported relatively flat growth.
Whilst still an emerging brand in New Zealand, the Segway PowerSports range of ATVs and UTVs have been selling exceptionally well in USA and across the ditch in Australia. The AT5 is being called “King of the lightweight ATV class” with the entry-level spec beginning at $8,995 in New Zealand. The AT6 offers a longer wheelbase and more power. The Fugleman range of side-by-sides begins at $19,995, with the 4-seater “crew” version from $25,995.
Those vehicles are perfect for work down on the farm…
…while at the other end of the spectrum there’s the hybrid SuperVillain SX20, delivering side-by-side adventure with 330hp – plus instantaneous response thanks to a hybrid powertrain. Petrol-only models are also available.
Kiwi homes usually feature at least several separate sections of lawn.
By setting up each separated section of lawn as a “Zone” Navimow can drive along a “Corridor” to get from one Zone to another. The route of the corridor can include surfaces such as concrete driveways, paving stones, cobbles, tiles and dirt paths.
In our tests, Navimow can also travel on shingle driveways and over automatic gate guide rails.
The photo above shows Navimow on a driveway made of GAP 20 metal (that is, stones up to 20mm in size).
The photos below show Navimow driving over an automatic gate guide rail. Driving directly over the rail works well (i.e. approach at right angles, or 90 degrees), and was 100% repeatedly reliable in our tests.
We also experimented with approaching the rail at an angle such as 45 degrees. This did not work so well. The first front castor wheel to hit the rail tends to rotate on it’s swivel arm and then the side of the castor wheel presses up against the rail and begins to slide along the it (as it is unable to roll over it in this orientation). It is pushed along the rail by Navimow’s driving wheels, which also begin to slip in the shingle. An angled approach may work OK on a fully sealed (concrete, bitumen) surface where there is no wheel slippage, but in practice there is no reason to approach a rail at any direction other than at right angles.
Presently, all Zones must be connected by a Corridor. But not every lawn is laid out in such a way that every area of lawn can be connected by corridors. For example, some lawns have areas that separated entirely, or are terraced. Coming soon is an update to the Navimow App that will permit non-continuous lawns to be mowed. The owner will be able to carry their Navimow to an “orphaned” Zone, place it down, and set it mowing. This new feature will enable Navimow to be used to mow just about every garden layout imaginable.
The best thing about Segway Navimow is how it just keeps getting better.
The latest mower firmware and Navimow App updates released a few days ago have added great new features and even more improvements to the world’s most advanced robotic lawnmower.
First, the fun stuff: you can now ‘doodle’ on your lawn. Pick a shape – a heart, a star, a cat face and more – and Navimow will “draw” it on the lawn by leaving the shape un-mown for up to 6 days. The grass inside the shape grows taller than the surrounding lawn, marking out your design for all to see. You can scale, rotate and position the shape however you want.
Example of a heart-shaped ‘doodle’
Next up are Mowing Reports. This feature tracks and displays all activities, and can be used as a reference to adjust mowing schedules. Sort by day, week or month the number of mows, mown area and mown hours, all at a per-zone level of detail.
The new Mowing Reports feature in the Navimow App
Meanwhile, on the inside Navimow received improved Blade Motor firmware, Telematics BOX firmware, and EUC firmware.
Finally, Navimow now works 5% longer per recharge cycle.
On your phone the Navimow App has an improved layout, placing the most commonly used features within easier reach, and less commonly accessed features into menus.
And the best thing of all? This and every upgrade is free. Upgrades are automatically installed ‘over-the-air’ into your Navimow and phone (of course, you’re asked to confirm first if you’d like to go ahead with each update with a tap of a button).
Servicing a robot lawn mower is a lot cleaner and simpler compared with a petrol mower. For one thing, there’s no fuel, oil or grease to make a mess. Just wash, blow or clean away any build-up of grass and dirt, and the mower is ready to be worked on.
For owners, the Navimow App will remind you when the blades need replacing or the chassis needs to be cleaned. Segway recommends blades are replaced after 80 hours, and the App will send an alert at 70 and again at 80 hours.
The Navimow App lets you know when simple maintenance is due
Simply replace the blades with a new set using a screwdriver, and reset the counter in the App.
Similarly, Segway recommends cleaning the underside of the mower, wheel wells, the docking port, and the screen of the VisionFence camera once every 200 hours. As with blade swapping, the App will alert you when this is due to be done.
The diagram shows you where to clean, brush, blow or wash
Should a wheel or the blade disc become stuck or jammed with sticks, stones or other objects during normal operation, again the App will let you know and ask you to turn the mower on its side and clean out the obstruction, then set it down again to continue mowing.
Segway NZ and our Dealers have a special Service App that can be used in the field and in the workshop to test, troubleshoot and repair the Segway Navimow mower and charging station.
This App can be used to run a full vehicle test and perform a post-repair test.
It is also used to register new replacement parts that are installed into the mower, perform calibrations, and generate a test report, amongst other functions.
As reported at Laughing Stock, the entire story ran as follows. But be sure to check out the original story so you can watch the 4 minute video interview with Woz and with Steve-O.
It’s amazing to be friends with the man who invented the Apple computer, and going to the Apple Store with him happens to be hilarious!
During a comedy routine, Steve-O shared how he met Woz on Dancing With the Stars and hit it off immediately. When Steve-O told Woz that he wanted to get a MacBook Air because his back was hurting, Woz offered his employee discount, proudly noting that he was the first employee of the company.
We rode Segways together. So we walked into the store, I picked out my computer, the Woz calls over a sales dude. He says here’s my friend he’s gonna get this computer with my discount. Dude looks at him and says are you an Apple employee? And the Woz goes, uh-huh I have an Apple employee number, it’s one.
Woz really is Apple’s employee #1
Woz is well-known to Kiwi enthusiasts of Segway PTs, Apple products and technology in general. Woz has been visiting New Zealand since the late-70’s, when he would be invited out to promote Apple computers right through into the 1990s. He’s been here many times since as the keynote speaker at a range of events.
Late in 2005 we invited Woz to New Zealand to play the world’s first international match of Segway Polo here in Auckland, founding the first new international sport of the 21st century. It was soon being quoted as the prime example of business networking via high tech sports in publications like Fast Company and The Economist. In addition to game open to the public played in the crater of a volcano, the inaugural Woz Cup match was played during the lunch break at the annual NZ Polo Championship in front of thousands of Auckland’s most glamorous and influential.
Two additional Segway Personal Transporters (PTs) configured as the security-focused Patroller models were in use at The Base shopping mall over the Christmas period.
The Base has been using Segway PTs for daily security, traffic and management purposes since 2008. Come Christmas each year, the Mall management team hires one or two additional Segway PTs from Segway New Zealand to augment the Segway PT that is permanently stationed there with Red Badge Security, the company that holds the security contract.
After being collected back from The Base these Segway PTs were deployed to help manage the St Patrick’s Day Parade down Auckland’s Queen and Customs Streets. This event is run by Crackerjack Promotions, who also hire Segway PTs for the Santa Parade and many other events.
Elsewhere, the University of Canterbury has just purchased new tyres for the Segway PT used by the Locksmith. This University has been deploying Segway PTs since 2006, beginning with on-campus mail delivery, then security patrols, then for site maintenance in the role with the historically title The Locksmith.
Lawns can be dynamic areas. There might be something on it today that wasn’t there yesterday.
Traditionally, robotic lawnmowers have (mostly) not run over or into randomly dropped toys, deck chairs, sleeping dogs, or a myriad of other possibilities by employing impact sensors on bumper bars or built into their shells that get triggered when crashing into objects. Some models employ ultrasonic sensors to scan ahead.
Only Segway’s Navimow uses an advance AI (Artificial Intelligence) camera system called VisionFence to look at and make sense of the lawn ahead as it mows.
Yesterday we trimmed our hedge, but rain prevented the job getting finished and the clippings being picked up off the lawn.
Navimow, being a diligent chap, was keen to get out onto the lawn and keep it mowed, on account of recent rain and warm weather making the grass grow.
Figure 1
Thanks to VisionFence, Navimow could “see” the clippings on the lawn, dynamically adapt its route on the fly, and mow around them. As you can see in the Figures below, there are a lot of clippings. If Navimow was to drive into them it could become caught up and stuck, and there could be some unnecessary wear on the blades as well.
Figure 2
No other robotic lawnmower can deal with and work with dynamically changing lawn environments like Navimow. All models of Navimow sold in New Zealand feature VisionFence.
If an owner has VisionFence turned off then an Exclusion Zone can be temporarily added to the Map, then deleted once the trimmings had been removed from the lawn. But with VisionFence turned on, this extra step is not required.
Figure 3: Can you see what Navimow saw? Can you see where Navimow didn’t mow?
Here’s a demarcation line illustrating how close Navimow mowed up to the clippings.
Figure 4: Here’s an approximate illustration of where Navimow mowed up to the clippings
Here’s an exploded view of the real-time progress of Navimow on the Map showing where VisionFence has ensured mowing did not extend into the clippings (Figure 5). The jagged edge pointed at by the green arrow shows where VisionFence has identified the irregular, safe-to-mow boundary where the clippings are heaped on the lawn. You can also see that Navimow had mowed around the boundary of the lawn before hedge cutting began.
Figure 5: See how VisionFence identified the ‘Safe to mow up to’ edges of the clippings on the lawn
Robotic lawnmowers that rely on a surface or buried boundary wire cannot deal with this kind of situation. The only options are not to mow (and let the grass keep growing), or lay some kind of physical barrier across the lawn that the mower can crash into to prevent it entering the area with the clippings. The latter is not a practical option in the situation illustrated in these photos.
Figure 6: Automated avoidance from another angle
Every Segway Navimow has VisionFence, and every Navimow model has mowing without boundary wires. Call 0800 SEGWAY to buy Navimow in New Zealand.
This rural property has just given one of their Navimow units more work to do.
Originally, it was mapped to mow ~2,000 m2 of our irregularly shaped, largest lawn that has two exclusion zones (barked flower beds under specimen trees). We’ve just added another ~1,000 m2 of lawn by creating a second Zone. There are 4 exclusions zones – around the barked area under each of the four specimen trees on this lawn.
Here’s what impresses most:
Navimow happily travels 40m along a connecting “corridor” to get from one Zone to the next (see the long Pink line in Figure 1)
This corridor is in a narrow canyon of tall trees (see Figure 2)
The signal from the EFLS transmitter easily passes through both the house and garage to reach one part of this lawn (see the Green line in Figure 1)
Figure 1
With Navimow’s unique VisionFence AI camera turned on Navimow has never got “lost” while transversing the 40m long narrow tree-lined corridor that joins the Zones. Here’s what the world looks like to Navimow when journeying down this path.
Figure 2
Lawn #2 also has two Zones (see Figure 1). Unlike Lawn #1 which has two Zones that are quite some distance from each other, the Zones on Lawn #2 are two adjacent areas of lawn that are separated by a hedge. The hedge is about 3m tall and more than 1 m wide.
The short Pink line in Figure 1 shows the short corridor created using the Navimow App to connect the two Zones. To get from Zone 1 to Zone 2 Navimow drives underneath the hedge, as shown in Figure 3 below.
EXAMPLE THREE – Overcoming difficult spots and tricky situations on complex lawns
This article includes real-world examples of situations where Navimow’s unique VisionFence camera really comes into its own. VisionFence brings powerful object recognition AI (artificial intelligence) capabilities to Navimow enabling it to conquer areas where other robot mowers can’t reach.
First, some background. The Segway Navimow employs a range of strategies to help it get unstuck. For example, if it discovers it has a wheel is spinning, perhaps because a wheel has slipped off an edge or into a garden garden bed, Navimow tries a number of manoeuvres to climb out of trouble. These involve rotating each wheel in a mixture of directions and speeds, and trying to orientate the body of the mower in a direction where it can drive out of where it has unexpectedly found itself.
Navimow owners are most likely to encounter this kind of issue during their first runs after initial set-up. The solution is to edit the map so Navimow’s map boundary does not run quite so close to an edge or other problem spot. But if Navimow has driven into a divot or rabbit hole that wasn’t there yesterday, you might have to come to the rescue and fill in the hole. For example, here is a photo of where Navimow became bellied in very spongy kikuyu grass. Hidden underneath the grass mat was a deep depression in the soil where a horse hoof had landed when galloping across the lawn, forming a “hidden, covered pit trap”. One of Navimow’s wheels sunk into the hole, and while it tried every trick in the book to escape, in the end human intervention was required (of course, this is not the kind of situation many Navimow’s will happen upon).
Navimow knows where it with an accuracy of 1 to 2 cm by making use of the known location of the EFLS transmitter (usually this is on 1m high pole close to the Base Station, but it can also be mounted on higher pole, fence, or even up on a roof). In conjunction with an ever-changing selection of GPS/GNSS satellites passing above, Navimow triangulates its position. Typically, there are about a dozen in view at any one time, with about half of them providing strong signals.
Screenshot
Navimow also has an inertial idea of where it is now versus where it was a moment ago, because it knows how its orientation and movement at any given moment: detecting yaw, pitch, roll, and linear acceleration using sensors sensors, plus it knows the rotational speed of its wheels (and therefore the distance it has travelled since the last “known” point). This completes the Real Time Kinematic Positioning System.
If the signal from the EFLS unit is weak, and/or signals from GPS/GNSS satellites are obstructed, and/or the satellites overhead are minimal in number then a robot lawnmower can lose track of exactly where it is. It employs recovery strategies, including pausing and waiting for more satellites to come into view, and moving around a little in the hope of finding a spot with improved reception. If it cannot recover its location, it stops and sends a message to its owner asking to be carried to a more open space and restarted so that it can carry on working from where it left off. Unless, of course, it is a Segway Navimow with VisionFence turned on.
In the photo below (Figure 1), the signal travels along the green line, through the house and garage onto the most obscured area of Zone 6 without causing problems.
More impressively, the signal has also been found to easily travel along the yellow line, passing through the entire house, to the most obscured area of Zone 7 without causing problems.
Figure 1
However, while working in Zone 7 (with VisionFence turned off), occasionally Navimow will pause from time to time while it waits for enough satellites to come into view. Zone 7 is shaded by a very steep bank that blocks out ~30 degrees of the skyline in a southerly direction, and it bounded in the other three directions by roofs. To date Navimow has always recovered after a brief period, and continues on the job without human intervention. Turning on VisionFence enables Navimow to operate even when satellite signals are attenuated or obscured. It is even possible to mark areas of your lawn where VisionFence is to be used and where it can be turned off. Remember, VisionFence cannot “see” at night, so you can select whether or not you want Navimow to operate at night in a particular area where you’ve decided VisionFence brings benefits. That is, you can select if you want Navimow to operate 24 hours per day, or only during Daylight. Equally, if VisionFence is ON then you can select if you want Navimow to stop mowing at Night, or continue mowing at Night but without the benefit of VisionFence providing added situation awareness over and above Navimow’s EFLS, RTKP, GPS/GNSS and touch sensors.
Every property is different, and signal attenuation will depend on the construction material of the house (e.g. concrete absorbs more signal than wood), number of walls the signal needs to pass through, presence of windows, etc (in this respect it is very much like home WiFi transmission). Our testing suggests Navimow will perform admirably on the vast majority of Kiwi suburban sections, even with VisionFence turned off. Turning it on brings added benefits no other robot lawnmower can offer.
The maximum range of the EFLS transmitter in an open space is ~170m.
At our rural property, the furtherest extent we’ve tested is 85m, with a thick 2m hedge in between the transmitter and the far corner of Navimow’s map. In Figure 2 below the Yellow line is 85m. As expected, no reception issues have been encountered at this distance.
Figure 2
The Green line shows how the signal must pass through some ~30m of house to reach the most obstructed area of lawn. Again, no reception issues have been encountered despite the extent of this impediment.
Equally, Navimow encounters no troubles operating under tall, established trees planted on lawns and boundaries.
Top Left: Navimow receives a strong signal from the EFLS transmitter located on the other side of a thick thick hedge (photo taken in Zone 2 of Lawn 2, Navimow is located near the light blue ovals in Figure 2 above). Top Right, Bottom Left: Navimow operates underneath trees without encountering reception issues. Bottom Right: Navimow can easily handle mowing the narrow strip of lawn between a rosemary hedge and a bark garden located underneath three large trees without encountering reception issues.
The Pink line in Figure 2 is a distance of about 35m between the EFLS transmitter and the boundary, so the signal at that point is still very strong. However, the area in the Pink oval is the spot where Navimow has got itself into a little bit of trouble on two occasions over a period of 4 weeks mowing. As you can see in the photo below, Navimow has gone off the beaten track!
Figure 3(turning on Navimow’s incredible VisionFence camera prevents this situation arising)
Let’s learn why this happened despite a strong signal from the EFLS transmitter, and how VisionFence solves this problem.
This area of the lawn is a “canyon of trees” formed by two rows of tall trees – a cypress shelter belt and three specimen trees surrounded by a planted garden bed. There is just a thin strip of grass to mow in-between, and a narrow strip of blue sky above (see pink oval in Figure 2). Here some additional photos for further context.
Top left: The “canyon of trees” is about 35m from the EFLS transmitter Bottom left: There is a 2m wide strip to mow, but sometimes Navimow cannot see enough satellites above to be sure of its location. Right: Navimow’s view looking straight up when in the canyon of trees– just a narrow patch of sky.
Most of the time Navimow is able to mows this “canyon” without any problems, because the EFLS signal is strong, the inertial guidance systems are clever, and there are enough satellites above with a sufficiently unattenuated view to the sky. It is not that trees entirely block the signals from the satellites, just attenuate the signal to varying degrees depending upon foliage, atmospheric conditions, and the position of each satellite in the sky.
On two occasions over 4 weeks Navimow has got a bit lost in this “canyon”. He’s stopped, called for help (via sending a message in the App) and asked to be moved to a more open space and set going again. Figure 3 captures the one occasion when he’d driven himself into the tree line while attempting to find a spot from which to re-establish contact. Both times Navimow got “lost” we had VisionFence turned off. After turning VisionFence on, Navimow has never again got “lost” in the canyon of trees because it is able to continue to operate safely by relying on real-time AI visual analysis of the operating environment.
VisionFence is a game-changer for enabling Navimow to operate in uncommon situations.
All Navimow models sold in New Zealand feature VisionFence.
In Figure 2 there are two Light Blue ovals marked out on the satellite property map above. These are areas of Zone #2 that get very wet in the winter because they are part of the drainage system. These areas will be marked off as temporary no-go zones during July and August – a quick and easy thing to do in just a couple of minutes by using the Navimow App. When the ground dries out again these temporary exclusion zones can be deleted.
Our real-world testing has shown that on almost every suitable property Navimow will work day in, day out, keeping your lawns looking perfect all of the time without any human intervention at all. Just set up your schedules and Navimow will do the rest. If you have a particularly complex or unusual environment you may need to give your Navimow a helping hand once in a while if you have VisionFence turned off.
Call 0800 SEGWAY for more information, pricing and availability for Segway Navimow.
EXAMPLE TWO – A suburban home in north eastern Auckland
This modern suburban home in north eastern Auckland is on a ~600m2 section, surrounded by a very complex lawn layout. Only one Navimow is needed because it can drive to all 7 separate Zones (soon to be expanded to 8). The blade turns off while moving along “corridors” between Zones, so Navimow can transverse across concrete, packed earth and some shingle (as long as the stones are not too big and rough, nor too tiny).
The total area of lawns that have been mapped is 258m2. This will increase to ~275m2 once the area marked Future Zone 8 has been added to the map.
Zones 4, 5 and 8 are the roadside berm located between the footpath and the roadway. Navimow has anti-theft alarmsprotection built-in, and is Bound to a single account (so a stollen Navimow can never be used by anyone else, unless Unbound by the original owner).
The various lawns are located and extend around all sides of the house. Zone 7 is on the opposite side of the house to the EFLS transmitter, and line-of-sight to Zone 6 is interrupted in part by the house. Navimow has proven able to receive a sufficiently strong signal from the EFLS transmitter mounted on the standard pole next to the base station – even on the opposite side of the house. Were this not to be the case, the transmitted can be mounted higher up, or on the roof.
The rate of growth rate of grass varies across the Zones. This is due to shading from buildings, soil type and grass type (e.g. the Council laid berms are different from the lawns laid around the house). Using the scheduling feature, each zone can be cut a different times, and at different heights. For example, setting the berms to be mowed when the owners are out maintaining the front gardens enables them to keep an eye on “Moe” in case a passerby thinks of interfering in some way.
A Navimow H800-VF would be a suitable model the lawns at this property. This model is capable of mowing up to 800m2 so is easily able to attend to the <300m2 lawns featured here. All Navimow models sold in New Zealand include VisionFence. Turning VisionFence on at this property is useful because the owners have a dog and three cats. Further, VisionFence enables Navimow to continue to operate even when GPS signals are blocked or weakened by obstructions (eg buildings) as various satellites pass overhead. VisionFence uses Artificial Intelligence to recognise specific types of objects that might be left laying out on the lawn, or sunbathing or running about. In addition to VisionFence, Navimow uses touch/bump surfaces for object avoidance, and also has an instant ‘Blade Stop’ feature if the enclosure is touched at the points closest to where the blade is rotating underneath.
Read about Example 3 in our next article, where we learn about how Navimow deals with restricted views of the sky or to the EFLS transmitter, and more.
Call 0800 SEGWAY for more information, pricing and availability for Segway Navimow.
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