More Than Mowing

August 25, 2026

More Than Mowing

As labour pressures and tighter maintenance windows continue to shape grounds care, getting more useful working hours from every machine is becoming increasingly important.

More Than Mowing

As autumn arrives and morning dew becomes a familiar sight across golf courses and sports pitches, grounds teams face a familiar challenge. Daylight hours become shorter, but the list of jobs rarely does.

Before the first tee time or match, dew may need clearing, grass needs cutting and driving ranges require ball collection. For teams already working with limited labour and narrow maintenance windows, fitting everything into the day can place considerable pressure on both people and equipment.

It also raises a simple question when facilities invest in automation: once an autonomous mower has finished cutting, what does it do next?

The FJD Rough Ranger has been developed around the idea that one robotic platform can remain productive beyond mowing. At its core, it is an autonomous mower designed for demanding turf environments, while interchangeable attachments allow the same machine to take on other routine jobs as priorities change.

That versatility starts with capable mowing. Golf course roughs and facility surrounds can present slopes, uneven ground, dense grass and obstacles. The Rough Ranger combines a front suspension chassis with a floating cutting deck, helping it remain stable on uneven terrain and follow ground contours for a more consistent cut with less turf scalping. It can operate on working slopes of up to 20°.

But its working day can begin before mowing starts.

On an autumn morning, the Rough Ranger can be fitted with a three-section dew brush spanning 2,930 mm. Working ahead of play, it can clear dew from the turf, while automatic lifting and folding allow the brush to retract during turns and manoeuvring around obstacles.

Dew brushing is a simple but repetitive and time-sensitive task. Moving it to an autonomous platform can free experienced staff to focus on work that requires more judgement and attention.

Once dew removal or mowing is complete, the same machine does not have to return to the shed. With the ball-picking attachment fitted, it can move to the driving range and collect up to 3,000 golf balls per hour, returning automatically to the unloading area when its basket is full.

In practical terms, one machine can begin work before golfers arrive, move on to mowing during the maintenance window and later continue working on the driving range.

That is the real value of a multi-functional robotic platform. The point is not simply how many attachments can be fitted to the same machine, but how much of the working day it can remain useful.

Other attachments can extend the platform into tasks such as sports-pitch line marking and the collection of grass clippings, leaves and light debris, giving facilities additional flexibility as requirements change.

Autonomous navigation uses RTK fused with LiDAR to build a 3D terrain map, helping the Rough Ranger operate in challenging areas such as under trees or around obstacles. Real-time LiDAR obstacle detection adds another layer of support for autonomous operation.

For grounds managers, this changes the conversation around automation. The question is no longer only how much labour an autonomous mower can save while cutting grass, but how much useful work the same machine can complete across the rest of the day.

For teams under pressure to maintain standards with limited time and resources, keeping one machine productive across different tasks can be as important as autonomy itself.

The thinking behind the FJD Rough Ranger is straightforward: rather than using robotics for one job at a time, make better use of the robotic platform already on site.

Doing more does not always mean having more machines. Sometimes, it simply means getting more from each one.

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