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If you hate yard work, you might have dreamt of getting a robot to mow your lawn for you, saving you the hassle of once or twice per week mowing during the height of your lawn’s growing season. While the prospect of a robotic lawnmower might seem too good to be true, there are new models out that can mow your lawn—saving you time and, if you have a larger lawn and/or need to mow frequently, money in fuel costs over the long term.
How do robotic mowers work?
The basic premise of a robotic lawn mower is that it will do to your grass what a Roomba does indoors to your floors. While some models operate using a perimeter wire and are set to travel until they come into contact with it and then turn, eventually covering the whole lawn, newer models like Husqvarna Automower (currently $1,499.99) use GPS and sensors to operate the mower on a planned path for your yard. Mowers that use a programmable path for optimal efficiency are more likely to save money in the long run.
Save short-term on fuel
The main savings from using a robotic mower over a traditional mower is in the cost of fuel. Because robotic mowers run on batteries that are recharged with household electricity, they use much less fuel than riding mowers or walk-behind models. In a study commissioned by Stihl, robotic lawnmowers performed better than their traditional counterparts when mowing took place twice a week. According to the study, a traditional mower uses about $25 in fuel to mow once per week for a growing season and $50 to mow twice per week for a growing season; a robotic mower uses about $41 in fuel for a twice weekly mow per season.
Save on labor costs
If you’re deciding between using a robotic mower or a lawn care service, the robotic mower is the more cost effective option, hands down. To hire a service to mow your lawn, it costs between $50 and $200 per acre. A robotic lawn mower can mow an acre for an entire cutting season for just $41—a significant savings.
Save on lifetime costs for fuel and maintenance
Overall, the long-term savings associated with using a robotic mower are the real draw. While a good robotic mower for a residential lawn can cost between $1,000 and $1,500 to buy, a battery-powered push mower comes in at around $380. So the initial cost difference is substantial. But in a study from the International Journal of Sustainable Engineering that compared the total cost to operate over 10 years of several types of mowers, the programmable robotic mower that had an optimal path designed for it was less than half the cost of its closest competitor, the gas-powered riding mower. The total lifetime operating costs for 10 years of use for the robotic mower were about $6000, while the gas-powered riding mower came in at about $14,000. Importantly, the random-walk style of robotic lawnmower with no optimal path set was the most expensive mower, costing about $23,000 to operate for 10 years.
Other advantages of robotic mowers
Robotic mowers are cheaper over time than regular mowers if you need to mow frequently. In addition to being cheaper, a robotic mower will save you time (if you normally mow your grass yourself). Robot lawn mowers are designed to mulch grass clippings back into your yard automatically, making your grass healthier as well as eliminating clipping waste. Since they don’t burn fossil fuels, robotic mowers produce fewer emissions than their traditional counterparts. They’re also significantly quieter than regular mowers since the blades are smaller and they don’t have internal combustion engines.
Disadvantages of robotic mowers
Robotic mowers are a big upfront cost and for folks who don’t need to mow frequently, they might not be cost-saving. In addition to the cost, they need a charger to be plugged in outdoors where the mower can dock, so having a place in your yard to secure the mower and charger when you’re not home is key. If you live in an area where yard equipment can be a target for thieves, your mowing robot will need an enclosure of some kind with an outlet to keep it secure. Robotic mowers often have a limit to the slope they can operate on, so they won’t work in some yards that have hills or uneven terrain.
Future prospects
While robotic mowers aren’t ideal for everyone now because of their price and terrain limitations, as the technology develops, the price will likely fall, and the more efficient optimal path mowers will likely become more affordable. Also, the development of better sensors and better travel equipment will likely allow robotic mowers to move over increasingly uneven yards. As battery technology improves, the rechargeable batteries that robotic mowers use will likely become more efficient and cheaper as well.
