The first autonomous garden robot that clears snow, mows grass and removes leaves and is therefore useful in all seasons
“Because yard work sucks”
Steven Waelbers, the founder of Kobi, messed around in his parents’ garage as a child, building robots and drones. Until a few years later during an unusually heavy snowstorm, his father remarked that a snow robot would certainly be extremely useful. Steven got down to work and constructed a robot, and it actually worked as well! Via an American colleague – "people would pay money for this" – the result was a prototype that performed its tasks to perfection. Its potential was then confirmed by means of an independent market investigation and the Kobi Company was born.
What is actually so special about Kobi?
- There are no wires – “It’s stupid to put a wire in the ground!”
- It navigates by itself: “Kobi is smart, but he will never outsmart you”
- Energy efficient
- Traces a nice pattern
- Anti-theft protection
“At VITO/EnergyVille, we were able to carry out extensive tests in the climate chamber – how exactly would the battery behave? In the end, it turned out that the losses were much smaller than originally thought.”
Steven Waelbers
CEO & founder of The Kobi Company
Electrification
A number of requirements existed with regard to electrification:
- Snow is cold-> cold temperatures are bad for batteries
- A lot of energy is needed
- High performance values are required in hot conditions
The tests were carried out in climate chambers at VITO/EnergyVille. Accelerated test cycles were used in order to provide answers to the following questions:
- How would the battery behave?
- How fast would the battery degrade?
In the end, it turned out that the losses were much smaller than expected. This was important because the battery must remain affordable, certainly in a product destined for the consumer market.
An optimum cost-performance ratio was achieved
The Kobi Company
Steven Waelbers
Kobi carried off the Robobusiness Pitchfire Competition award and came to the attention of the international media, in the form of CNN, Forbes and Bloomberg, to name but a few. In the meantime, over 16,000 Kobis have already been sold!
