The Future of Smart Gardens: A One-on-One with Sunseeker CEO Terry Ma
Sunseeker has steadily pushed the limits of outdoor automation, and its latest showcase at IFA 2026 in Berlin proves the company is ready to dominate the landscape. In a one-on-one conversation before the event, sunseeker Founder and CEO Terry Ma outlined a major strategic change for the brand heading into 2027. Moving well beyond standalone robotic mowers, Sunseeker is introducing five new LiDAR-equipped products, along with a comprehensive Smart Garden ecosystem and an industry-first software platform.
For homeowners tired of complex setup, the new 2027 lineup is designed to deliver a simpler user experience. These models include the S7 LiDAR Ultra AWD 3000 and the S5 LiDAR Ultra Pro AWD 1800, which use 360-degree LiDAR alongside the new MapOST platform. The flagship S7 is built to deal with complex, large-scale lawns, managing steep slopes of up to eighty percent while supporting an Extension Hub equipped with an EdgeZero trimmer head for precise edge-to-edge cutting.
What sets this generation apart is how the technology perceives and interacts with the physical world. Sunseeker introduced MapOST, a three-dimensional semantic map paired with solid-state LiDAR sensors. This system gives the robotic mowers advanced contextual awareness, letting users customize no-go zones, fine-tune boundaries point by point, and safely and reliably recognize more than 360 types of obstacles. Furthermore, the broader Smart Garden ecosystem connects mowers, rain gauges, and upcoming soil sensors into a unified network that uses onboard Vision AI to monitor conditions and recommend automated solutions.
Sunseeker is also mapping out its long-term future through its Flexible Supervised Autonomy Outdoors roadmap. Developed in consultation with machine learning experts like Professor Doctor Alan Akbik from Humboldt University of Berlin, the company is actively progressing from Level Three smart garden capabilities toward Level Four and Level Five autonomy to help alleviate labor shortages and reduce routine manual upkeep.
Beyond your backyard, sunseeker is making major strides in both the professional and commercial landscaping spaces. The brand has also recently established high-profile partnerships across international sports, working with the French Football Federation, the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball, and the professional training pitches for many major European football clubs. As Terry Ma noted, if a robotic system can handle the high demands of a professional baseball or soccer field, taking care of a residential lawn becomes effortless.
With a threefold increase in revenue during 2026 and an expanding retail footprint spanning thousands of points of sale globally, sunseeker is positioning itself as a dominant force in outdoor robotics. The upcoming 2027 lineup officially rolls out starting in February, promising a much brighter, more hands-off approach to property maintenance.
This is not a sponsored post.
