Dealers, customers and journalists from across Europe and the United States were in Antwerp this week to hear from Husqvarna on future developments, particularly in the professional landscaping sector.

Under the title of Silent City, Husqvarna showed off their view of the future of landscaping enabling machines to ‘talk’ to contractors and operators by the use of smartphones, smart watches and other mobile devices, thus providing real-time data from across a fleet of machines.

Husqvarna CEO and President, Kai Warn, described the use of connected battery power as “the biggest leap in our industry since the motorising of outdoor products”.

The company launched a prototype of a lithium battery with integrated Bluetooth connectivity. The battery could be paired with an operator’s mobile phone to be used for his own information or be shared with team leaders or management.

The new innovation extends the Husqvarna Fleet Services project, launched in 2014 which provides an on-line platform to share data from smart sensors incorporated onto products.  The service is shortly to be upgraded with the launch of a smartphone app version to provide at-work data.

Husqvarna also unveiled a new design concept for the hedge trimmer of the future, the Husqvarna Ramus (the Latin for ‘branch’). A futuristic design and weight which has been halved from conventional trimmers, the Ramus is fitted with a connected battery and an integrated camera to display the view from the cutter head when cutting high hedges or complicated.  The prototype of the connected battery is currently patent-pending – and future details are yet to be defined.