If you have always dreamed of a tireless, efficient but also "sociable" (almost funny) gardener assistant, perhaps the time has come to have a special meeting. Verdie is the latest addition to the startup's family of outdoor robots Electric sheep, a bot powered by artificial intelligence capable of mowing, edging, sweeping and much more, all while performing dances and balancing games that make it a true outdoor "joker".
A true gardener
Beyond its nice aesthetics, however, Verdie represents a crucial step forward for automation that respects the environment and serves people.
Electric Sheep's vision is to transform the entire outdoor green area maintenance sector from a traditional, labor- and pollution-intensive model to a sustainable, AI-enhanced solution. As the CEO explains Nag Murty:
Verdie is the world's first AI robot gardener for tasks such as trimming and edging in the gardening world. It's exciting to see our ES1 technology powering multiple robots that can work side-by-side with a team, without an engineer configuring a specific path.
Agent ES1: The mastermind behind the robotic gardener
The real brains behind Verdie and Electric Sheep's fleet of lawn robots is the ES1 software agent, a generative artificial intelligence training model. This “simulated world” uses photorealistic parks and gardens to teach bots how to perform their tasks and overcome obstacles such as rodent holes.
Of course, the system also learns from real scenarios while in service with “human teams”, constantly expanding its prior knowledge.
So far, the ES1 has been integrated into a fleet of 40 robotic lawnmowers operating in hundreds of yards across America. With Verdie's arrival in the second quarter of 2024, the AI agent will allow the "fun" robotic gardener to operate a wide range of power tools.
Beyond the lawnmower: the robot that studies as a handyman
Autonomous robotic lawnmowers have been a familiar presence in gardens for decades, but Verdie promises to take gardening automation to the next level. After some “simple modifications,” the semi-autonomous electric gardener was successfully tested with various electric gardening tools, each powered by the same battery as the robot.
Thanks to stereo cameras that map the workspace in a bird's-eye view, Verdie can detect low obstacles, record its pose, and so on. Its articulated platform on balanced wheels offers six degrees of freedom of movement, with actuators in the “legs” that allow pitch, roll and height adjustments during activities.
In addition to mowing, edging and blowing debris, Electric Sheep envisions that its AI garden assistant can one day handle additional tasks such as planting, pruning and weeding, collaborating with human crews rather than completely replacing them. With its arrival scheduled for the second half of this year, Verdie seems ready to conquer all hearts: even artichoke ones.
