I’m Allen, CEO and founder of Yarbo. In this forum, I’d like to speak directly with all of you who have supported us on our journey to become the ultimate yard solution for everyone.
As the world’s first autonomous modular yard robot, we’re working to make the impossible possible. But this journey hasn’t been easy. We’re breaking new ground, exploring uncharted territories, and pushing boundaries. Starting from scratch, without prior experience in sound engineering or an established supply chain, we’ve designed every component ourselves. Today, the Yarbo Core, Snow Blower Module, Lawn Mower Module, Blower Module, and the upcoming Trimmer are all the result of countless experiments, tests, and ongoing improvements.
Thank you for your continued support. While we’ve made significant progress, we know there’s still much to do. Your input is crucial to our growth, and your feedback remains our most valuable asset. With your ongoing involvement, we can continue to improve and create something truly exceptional together.
As the CEO of Yarbo, I understand that you may have many questions, and I’m here to host this AMA event with you. Thank you for your trust and support. I look forward to an open and honest conversation with all of you about the future we’re building together.
PS: I’m posting this message at 10:30 AM (EDT) on April 12th to give you a heads-up about the upcoming event. The AMA will take place from 8:00 AM (EDT) to 10:00 AM (EDT) on April 13th. I’ll be answering your questions live and will do my best to respond to as many as I can. If there are any particularly complex questions I can’t answer immediately, I’ll follow up with you after the event.
Good morning
This is Ralph from Canada; I have a list comments ; some questions
2025Apr13 – yarbo chat
• Improve the snow throwing direction control during any pattern. The user should be able to easily set up a no-throw direction within a mapped area.
• Improve the process of creating a mapped area, especially during winter when it is -20°C. Struggling to do the mapping in the cold is not desirable. Allowing the user to map an area inside a warm house on a computer would be most desirable.
• I had to go into the cold during a snowstorm to unstuck the heavy Yarbo many times last season. It was totally no fun and made the Yarbo a laughing stock among the neighbors: “Your expensive toy is not quite able to work reliably….”
• Improve the traction on the robot to reduce instances of getting stuck.
• Add features to allow Yarbo to detect and avoid getting into a potentially stuck situation.
• Implement more intelligent algorithm(s) to get out of a stuck situation.
• Improve the auger design to minimize clogging. Design a mechanism to better bite into and break up the snow pile to clear the snow.
• Include a rotary snow brush attachment for clearing snow left behind by the snowblower.
• To increase the battery runtime during snow clearing:
o Need a quick-swap second battery that charges off the robot.
o The snowblower auger uses a lot of power.
• I have problems because I have very large areas (a very long driveway, large parking area, and walkways) to cover for snow clearing. I have mapped the areas into smaller parcels. Unfortunately, Yarbo runs out of power and has to return to the docking station to charge before even finishing clearing one larger area. The problem with that is, during a heavy snowstorm, when Yarbo finally charges up and is ready to continue clearing, the snow has built up so much that it overwhelms Yarbo. It goes out into the deeper snow and gets stuck.
Hello everyone, I’m online!
Thank you for joining today’s AMA. I’m here and ready to answer your questions—whether they’re about Yarbo’s product development, engineering challenges, or what’s next on our roadmap.
I’ll be answering as many questions as possible in the next two hours. To help keep things organized, Ethan and Rachel will be assisting me with collecting and sorting through your comments.
Looking forward to an open and honest conversation. Let’s get started!
I have 2023 S1 and M1 units through kickstarter. Since the S1 unit arrived in December of 2023 it has never worked properly. I have had a number of support tickets that were never properly resolved. The most recent and current ticket number is #5180 which was initiated on 12/4/2024. The support team has taken days to weeks to respond to some of the thread and never has any support response addressed all of the issues. Currently support offers me a replacement 2023 core and S1 unit at no cost and has offered an upgrade to the 2024 unit for $400. It is my understanding that the upgrade may resolve the issues that have plagued the 2023 units. If so, the upgrades should be sent at no cost as part of a recall. What percentage of the 2023 units are performing trouble free and what percentage of the 2024 units are performing trouble free? It is distressing to learn that the 2023 S1 and M1 units are not compatible with the 2024 core. This decision will result in a lot resources wasted on obsolete units. You should be duty-bound to be sure all new units are compatible with the old components
I have a 2024 model near Austin TX and love the product. I use it to keep my 2AC farm house mowed. Is there anything you are doing to make the lawn more Heavy Duty? I broke a disc once and the blades keep getting jammed. Hard to get replacements in a timely manner too
When will parts start shipping? I have had parts on order since late March and they have not even shipped Yet. Parts I ordered. in January, just arrived in the past week. As users of this product, this is not good.
Hi Allen, thank you for an interesting and fun product with some real potential to help me maintain my property.
What are you looking at for an updated snowblower module? The current model is a notch or two below my Ariens Compact 24 for capability, and it would be great to have a snowblower module on par with that. I’ve had a few snowstorms of hideous heavy wet and slushy snow leading to an endlessly clogged chute, and I had to get the Ariens out, which itself struggled a little but did what I needed.
Thank you for taking the time to share such thoughtful and detailed feedback. I truly understand your concerns—especially when it comes to using Yarbo in extreme weather and on large properties like yours.
From the very beginning, our goal with the Snow Blower Module was to tackle heavy snowfall and extend runtime as much as possible. Based on user feedback this past winter, we’re glad to see that Yarbo is already meeting the needs of many—but we know there’s still work to do, especially in more demanding environments like yours in Canada.
For the two key challenges you raised—traction and runtime—we’ve made some recent improvements:
Traction: We’ve released a new back brace mount, allowing Yarbo to tow additional weight and significantly improve grip on slippery or uneven surfaces.
Runtime: The current battery system already supports external charging, and we’ve continued to refine our algorithms to improve clearing efficiency and reduce unnecessary power consumption.
As for your excellent suggestions on improving snow-throw direction control, stuck detection and recovery, smarter mapping (especially in winter conditions), and even new hardware ideas like a rotary snow brush—we’ve taken them to heart. These are all areas we’re actively working on, and many of them are already part of our upcoming OTA update roadmap.
I too am awaiting for spare parts ordered back in January. I was advised that they are expected to be shipped out this week, but I have received no confirmation. Yarbo needs to improve its supply chain of consumable replacement parts.
Can you address the issue many are having with breaking the mower disks? Many pictures are around of disks broken, and the kicker is you can’t get parts.
I too would like to know what can be done with the mowing disks. On my first use of the mower and the new update, my unit did not avoid a drainage coverage and ran over it breaking the disks…now I wait for new ones. Extremely disappointing the software didn’t work and now I can’t get parts.
First of all, thank you for being one of our early Kickstarter backers. I truly appreciate your support and patience throughout this journey.
I want to personally make sure your concerns are addressed properly. I’ve asked the team to review ticket #5180 in full to ensure every issue is followed up on—not just partially, but completely. I’ll also speak with our product team to explore whether we can offer a more favorable upgrade path for early supporters like you.
You raised an important question about the reliability of the 2023 vs. 2024 units. While I don’t have the exact percentages on hand right now, I agree that transparency matters. I’ll arrange for our team to compile that data and share it with you, so you can make a well-informed decision moving forward.
As for compatibility—this was one of the toughest trade-offs we faced during product iteration. As an engineer, I can say this decision wasn’t made lightly. In order to improve reliability and performance across the board, we had to redesign several key components, and that unfortunately meant giving up full backward compatibility.
That said, we’ve never stopped supporting the 2023 models. Every major firmware update continues to include them, even though it requires additional development and testing on our end.
We’re committed to standing by our early users, and I hope we can find the right solution for you.
I am located in North dakota and have been using the snowblower and now mower module.
My one question is about the choice of motors for the unit. My Husqvarna automower was silent. Is there a reason that these motors are so incredibly loud and do you have any plans to address this in future models?
Good Morning Allen and Team,
Can you explain the differences between the cut of a gasoline powered mower and the Yarbo battery mower? How can I get the best quality of cut with Yarbo assuming all of my hardware in within specifications?
Thank you for your time,
Brian S
Thank you for your continued support. It’s great to hear that Yarbo is helping you maintain your 2-acre property near Austin.
I appreciate your feedback on durability—we’re already making improvements:
Reinforced Cutting Deck: A more robust version is in development to handle tougher terrain.
Anti-Clog Blade System: We’re redesigning the blade assembly to reduce jamming, especially with thicker grass.
Faster Parts Delivery: We’re expanding our U.S. distribution network, including plans for a Texas hub. If you’ve faced delays, please share your order number so our team can follow up and ensure faster service moving forward.
In the meantime, feel free to adjust the mowing height or remove the blade fence in heavy grass areas—some users have found this helpful. We’re also happy to send you a spare deck and backup blades so you’re better prepared during peak season.
Can you give us a timeline of when we can expect Yarbo to be fully autonomous? Right now the rear cameras are a huge issue with them not working. Yarbo will back into everything right now. The last snow, my Yarbo kept leaving the mapped area by a few feet and then setting off errors, and of course getting stuck after that happens. Is there a big update coming to fix these issues?