DRBA Maintenance Department acquires remote-controlled Spider mower

Following its recent successful tests of unmanned aerial and submersible vehicles, the Delaware River and Bay Authority has now expanded its use of autonomous vehicles with the acquisition of a remote-controlled lawnmower. The mower is designed to maintain grass on steep inclines more safely and efficiently compared to traditional slope mowers. With its enhanced capabilities, the remote-controlled Spider ILD02 is a specialized piece of equipment designed to tackle various terrains and inclines that are difficult for traditional mowers to handle. The new Spider, capable of mowing fine turf as well as heavy brush on flat areas, was purchased for $46,000.

According to Douglas Clark, landscape supervisor at the DRBA, the main reason for purchasing the new equipment is employee safety. "We maintain a number of slopes and inclines near the overpasses that span Interstate 295," Clark said. "With the purchase of the Spider ILD02, our maintenance personnel no longer have to manually operate a slope mower on those inclines, sharply reducing the chance of an accident or injury occurring."

The Spider ILD02 mower is a remote-controlled, autonomous vehicle that allows the operator to be positioned a safe distance away while the machine is working on an inclined area. Due to its lightweight structure, low center of gravity, and distinct drive system, the Spider mower is able to mow extremely steep slopes with an incline up to 40 degrees. With the integrated hydraulic winch, this already impressive climbing ability can reach up to 55 degrees of an incline all while maintaining the safety of the operator.

Clark said, "While this Spider mower may be smaller than our current slope mowers, it is capable of mowing roughly the same daily amount on our steep slopes as the current mowers with less environmental impact." With its unique wheel drive, the Spider mower is not only gentle on grass, but eliminates erosion on slopes and soil compaction. This innovative Spider mower also has low fuel consumption, which greatly lowers its emissions.

With the purchase of the new Spider autonomous mower, the DRBA Maintenance Operations Department is embracing new technology that will not only help maintain hard-to-reach areas, but will benefit the well-being of DRBA employees and the environment.

Embracing new technology is not new for the DRBA. During the past two years, the authority has participated in a drone test inspection of the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the first air/water drone inspection demonstration of high-value infrastructure assets. In addition, the authority hosted a drone Do Tank at the Cape May ferry terminal that demonstrated the effectiveness of drone technology in disaster-relief efforts and also provided a platform for the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to test new communication technology at the ferry.