Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers

Water lawns, trees, or plants, using portable sprinkler systems, hoses, or watering cans.

AI: Fully automatable - Watering is widely automated via irrigation systems, smart controllers, and remotely operated sprinklers/hoses so the task can be fully automated in most settings.

Mix and spray or spread fertilizers, herbicides, or insecticides onto grass, shrubs, or trees, using hand or automatic sprayers or spreaders.

AI: Fully automatable - Mixing and applying fertilizers and pesticides is commonly automated with calibrated sprayers, drones, and spreaders that can perform these tasks end-to-end under safety controls.

Use irrigation methods to adjust the amount of water consumption and to prevent waste.

AI: Fully automatable - Smart controllers, soil moisture sensors and AI-driven irrigation scheduling are widely deployed and can fully manage water application to reduce waste in many landscapes.

Mow or edge lawns, using power mowers or edgers.

AI: Fully automatable - Autonomous and robotic lawn mowers (and increasingly automated commercial ride‑on mowers/edging systems) are mature and can reliably mow and edge many lawns without human intervention.

Advise customers on plant selection or care.

AI: Fully automatable - Advising on plant selection and care can be fully automated by AI using horticultural databases, image/sensor diagnostics, and conversational interfaces.

Haul or spread topsoil or spread straw over seeded soil to hold soil in place.

AI: Fully automatable - Hauling and spreading topsoil or straw is readily handled by existing mechanized and GPS/autonomous spreading equipment and can be fully automated in many operational contexts.

Mark design boundaries and paint natural or artificial turf fields with team logos or names before events.

AI: Fully automatable - Field boundary marking and precision painting (including logos) are achievable with GPS-guided machinery and robotic painting/airbrushing systems that are already in practical use.

Gather and remove litter.

AI: Partial - Robots can pick up some litter in structured environments, but reliable general-purpose litter collection across varied public spaces is still only partially automated.

Use hand tools, such as shovels, rakes, pruning saws, saws, hedge or brush trimmers, or axes.

AI: Partial - Use of hand tools spans many forceful, dexterous, and context-sensitive actions that current robots can replicate for specific tasks but not fully across the full range.

Operate vehicles or powered equipment, such as mowers, tractors, twin-axle vehicles, snow blowers, chain-saws, electric clippers, sod cutters, or pruning saws.

AI: Partial - Many powered landscaping machines (mowers, some tractors) have autonomous modes, but full autonomous operation across all vehicle types and complex job contexts still requires human control or supervision.

Prune or trim trees, shrubs, or hedges, using shears, pruners, or chain saws.

AI: Partial - Automated pruning exists in controlled agricultural settings, but general-purpose pruning of trees and shrubs in varied landscapes still requires human judgment and dexterity.

Provide proper upkeep of sidewalks, driveways, parking lots, fountains, planters, burial sites, or other grounds features.

AI: Partial - Routine cleaning and monitoring of grounds features can be automated partially (sweepers, sensors), but varied maintenance, repairs and context‑sensitive tasks still need human workers.

Shovel snow from walks, driveways, or parking lots and spread salt in those areas.

AI: Partial - Autonomous plows and sidewalk robots can handle many snow‑removal and deicing tasks, but heavy, complex conditions and safety/obstacle challenges limit full automation across all sites.

Maintain irrigation systems, including winterizing the systems and starting them up in spring.

AI: Partial - Smart irrigation controllers automate scheduling, but physical winterizing, blowouts, repairs and seasonal startups typically require human technicians for reliable execution.

Plan or cultivate lawns or gardens.

AI: Partial - AI can design plans and guide/autonomously control some cultivation machinery, but cannot reliably perform all hands-on planting and nuanced cultivation tasks across varied sites without human labor in 2025.

Care for established lawns by mulching, aerating, weeding, grubbing, removing thatch, or trimming or edging around flower beds, walks, or walls.

AI: Partial - Some lawn-care subtasks like mowing and edging are automatable, but complex activities such as selective weeding, grubbing, and thatch removal remain only partially automatable.

Follow planned landscaping designs to determine where to lay sod, sow grass, or plant flowers or foliage.

AI: Partial - Translating a landscape plan into precise placement is feasible for mapping and guidance, but the physical laying of sod and diverse planting tasks across uneven sites are only partially automatable.

Trim or pick flowers and clean flower beds.

AI: Partial - Creative placement and aesthetic judgment required for decorating gardens with stones or plants, plus variable outdoor conditions, make full automation unreliable by 2025.

Attach wires from planted trees to support stakes.

AI: Partial - Automated tooling and robotic arms can perform simple staking tasks in nurseries, but reliable, adaptive outdoor tie‑up work around irregular trees and stakes still requires human dexterity and oversight.

Plant seeds, bulbs, foliage, flowering plants, grass, ground covers, trees, or shrubs and apply mulch for protection, using gardening tools.

AI: Partial - Seeders, transplanters and mulch spreaders automate many planting tasks at scale, yet varied ornamentals, ad hoc landscape layouts and fine manual planting still prevent full automation in typical landscaping by 2025.

Rake, mulch, and compost leaves.

AI: Partial - Vacuum/mulching machines and mechanized equipment handle much leaf work, but fully autonomous raking, pile management and adaptive composting across varied sites remain only partially automated.

Maintain or repair tools, equipment, or structures, such as buildings, greenhouses, fences, or benches, using hand or power tools.

AI: Partial - AI systems can assist diagnostics and enable limited routine maintenance by machines, but complex repairs requiring dexterous manipulation and on-site judgment remain largely human tasks.

Decorate gardens with stones or plants.

AI: Partial - AI can design layouts and recommend plant/stone placement, but the physical labor and fine placement of decorations in gardens is still predominantly manual.

Care for artificial turf fields, periodically removing the turf and replacing cushioning pads or vacuuming and disinfecting the turf after use to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria.

AI: Partial - Cleaning/disinfecting turf and some mechanized maintenance are automatable, but periodic full removal and replacement of turf and pads is still labor-intensive and not fully autonomous in typical settings.

Install rock gardens, ponds, decks, drainage systems, irrigation systems, retaining walls, fences, planters, or playground equipment.

AI: Partial - While heavy equipment and guided systems help, installing diverse landscape structures (ponds, decks, playgrounds) requires complex, adaptive construction work that is only partially automatable today.

Care for natural turf fields, making sure the underlying soil has the required composition to allow proper drainage and to support the grasses used on the fields.

AI: Partial - Sensors and AI can analyze soil and direct remediation, yet ensuring and maintaining the precise, site-specific soil composition and drainage for natural turf still requires human expertise and intervention.

Build forms and mix and pour cement to form garden borders.

AI: Partial - Mixing and pouring concrete is mechanized, but building custom forms and the fine carpentry and on-site adjustments for garden borders still typically require human labor and judgment.