A representative from a global company visited one of its local locations in Jefferson Wednesday afternoon.

Andy Liu is the European Sales Director with Yarbo, that sells robotic lawn mowers and snowblowers, and he was visiting with Schyler Bardole, who opened a shop along East Lincoln Way in 2024. Liu explained that the company started in China in 2015 and for the first eight years, they were developing a robotic snowblower, which he pointed out took a while before Yarbo gained a foothold in the industry.

“The company goes like a rocket. Starting from 2023, we start to develop a mower with modular design and also start to deliver thousands of units worldwide. And then last year, we have been sending over 10,000 units worldwide.” 

Liu mentioned that Yarbo is now in 30 countries, including the US, where they test different models before they go to market. He talked about how their company predicts trends in their industry and it was one simple technique.

“You just need to ask the customer, like, ‘What would you need for your yard?’ We have a mower, we have snow(blower), what else? Oh, leaves, okay we make leafblowers. We just always ask people. You know, we travel around the world just to see what people’s need (is) in their yard, that’s how the Yarbo started. We want to build a machine that works for all kinds of yard work. So you need to go to people, you need to ask their needs, you need to get their needs, and then study that and implement that into this modular system.”   

Liu added that their machines have lots of safety features within them, but that they are 100 percent autonomous and the technology works off of satellite signals and includes sensors that can follow you wherever you go. The range of a lawn mower is up to six acres and it runs on a three hour battery that can self-charge for 1.5 hours, and also has a towing capacity of 4,000 pounds.