Confidential Client
IoT lawn mower development.
A global leader in garden power tools needed to create an internet-connected robotic lawn mower.
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Electronic Engineering | Software Development
A global leader in garden power tools set out to launch an internet connected robotic lawn mower. They required a complete end-to-end product solution, including embedded hardware and software, wireless communications and cloud services, with support for consumer apps and business interfaces.
Challenge
The client required:
- A robust, mass market unit suitable for outdoor home environments.
- A communication protocol capable of supporting a high data demand product while keeping operating costs sustainable.
- Well defined data structures and APIs to serve multiple external interfaces such as consumer phone apps and web server solutions, all from a single code base.
- Trusted third-party partners (e.g. mobile networks and hosted service providers) to deliver a fully integrated, secure and scalable IoT solution.
Our Approach
We guided the client through technology evaluation, recommending cellular . We adopted an agile development model to quickly validate feasibility and collaborated closely with the client’s IT, engineering, and marketing teams to ensure alignment across on-board electronics, cloud services, and user facing applications.
Outcome
- Developed a full embedded hardware and software module that interfaced with the robotic mower’s intelligent motherboard and securely connected to the cloud.
- Designed an efficient and reliable data exchange protocol to meet performance and OpEx requirements of cellular communication.
- Delivered a working, cloud‑hosted product concept within weeks to meet early project milestones.
- Integrated the cloud solution into the client’s internal back‑end systems in partnership with their IT and data teams.
- Produced the first version of the cross‑platform consumer mobile apps and internal dashboard tools.
- Onboarded and coordinated with third‑party eSIM and hosting partners to create a fully integrated, tested IoT ecosystem.
The client launched a secure, scalable, and globally deployable connected robotic lawn mower. The solution delivered seamless communication, a unified code base for all interfaces, efficient operating costs, and a mature IoT infrastructure ready for largescale production and long-term product evolution.
We supported the customer in several key system choices relating to:
- Wireless standard choices and communication protocols
- Designing system security
- Cloud frameworks and services (including charging models)
- Cloud data user access profiles
- Production methodologies & test systems
- Consumer app UX relating to latency issues, live web data versus static App data and choice of cross-platform development tools
- Our software activities permeated every aspect of product development, from embedded code and comms solutions to UX consumer app development and engineering web interface design, and everything in between
- Specification, design and test of a complete cloud framework database structure, business rules definition and application development
- Support for the manufacturing, test process, and post-release support for features such as live OTA software updates
- Careful choices had to be made to balance the downward pressure on consumer product BOM cost with the need for feature-rich functions and performance of a high-value product
- Adding wireless comms to a product containing an electrically noisy, high-power electric motor presented a number of RF challenges
- We had to be mindful that the core modem hardware design would become a key building block for future products on the client’s roadmap
A suite of tools was developed to isolate and test each element of the system solution.
- Bluetooth emulators were used to bypass the cellular infrastructure during the development of the embedded lawn mover module
- A consumer unit emulator was developed and used to stress-test the cloud solution with simulated loads of up to 250,000 lawnmowers
- A system-level regression test solution was created to support a test-driven development methodology
- We specified, designed and installed a cellular RF verification test rig in the client’s Far Eastern volume manufacturing facility
- We also specified, designed and installed a final assembly production fixture enabling parallel processing of multiple modems for final verification and registration on the cellular network
- This provided the facility to match individual product barcodes to cellular IDs on the back-end customer server
- We worked with the client to effect significant savings in both CapEx and OpEx
- After the first version product release, we investigated and implemented lower BOM-cost, new cellular standard devices in the embedded modem to achieve significant BOM cost reductions
- Our extensive knowledge and experience in working with communications standards allowed us to design a comms protocol so lean, that the eSim provider had to review their commercial model for data charging