Robotic Lawn Mower ?

[Perry Holbrook]

Next month I'm headed to the Equip Exposition trade show in Louisville KY, to start my research for a future purchase of a robotic mower. During peak season, I'm mowing about 6 to 7 hours a week, which I really don't mind for now. But, I don't see me doing this in 3 or 4 years when I'm 75+, especially in our summer heat.

The lawn is a little unusual, with multiple grass types, cut at different heights, numerous natural grass areas that create a meadow look, large wildflower patches, fences, etc. But it's mostly flat, sloping front to back. About 8 acres of mowing. My current mower is rated at 4 acres per hour but you just can't get that with this layout, which we really like. I know it sounds like a lot of time for just 8 acres, but the bermuda grass areas (about half of the acreage) get cut at least twice a week.

So, a large scale robotic mower might be in our future. There are a few out there now that look interesting and I'm sure the major names will soon be launching their versions. So we're going to the show, which is THE show for the lawn industry on the east coast, (we attended this show for years as an exhibitor) to start our research.

I was just wondering if anyone here has already got some experience with these robots?

Perry

[Jim Becker]

No experience and honestly, I've only seen ads for smaller units suitable for smaller lawns. It will be interesting to see what you find out at that show!

[Bill Dufour]

John Deere is testing a robot farm tractor 400 horsepower with a longggg cord.
Bill D
Edit: the cord is one Kilometer long so 1/2 mile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMOkFqN1tC8

[Perry Holbrook]

No experience and honestly, I've only seen ads for smaller units suitable for smaller lawns. It will be interesting to see what you find out at that show!

Bigger than I need, but take a look at https://www.grazemowing.com/

[Jim Koepke]

I'm mowing about 6 to 7 hours a week, which I really don't mind for now. But, I don't see me doing this in 3 or 4 years when I'm 75+, especially in our summer heat.

Just my 508018.

Now is the time to be looking. Maybe even go to the library to see if there are any trade publications for the maintenance trades people that would have reviews and advertisements of these products.

By the time "3 or 4 years" pass, you will be more informed and the technology will have likely improved. Then you can buy with the confidence of having studied the field, so to speak.

jtk

[Rich Engelhardt]

There was one stolen from our neighbor a couple weeks ago.
It was out there just doing its thing & the owners were inside & not paying any attention to it.

[Jerome Stanek]

You may be able to pick up a nice demo unit from the outdoor displays I worked that show 6 years and they did have some good deals. I almost snag a 60 inch Toro deck that they didn't want to haul back but as I was getting ready to load it up one of the managers decided that it would look good in his show room.

[Ronald Blue]

John Deere is testing a robot farm tractor 400 horsepower with a longggg cord.
Bill D
Edit: the cord is one Kilometer long so 1/2 mile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMOkFqN1tC8

Really old news Bill. The video is 4 years old. Testing is simply an experiment. Believe me it's going to take some revolutionary break through technology to electrify rural America agriculture. Mobile charging units maybe?

[Tom M King]

I think if you can afford to buy something automatic that will work, you probably can afford to pay someone else to cut it. We have something over ten acres of grass to keep cut short. I used to pay someone else to cut it, but I maintained the equipment and had to go get him, feed him lunch, and carry him back home. When the pandemic hit, I knew he wouldn't be careful, so I gave him the mower he had been using, and went wide and fast.

I've taken out a few scrubs that slowed the process up, but not many. The 72" deck eliminates almost all of the string trimming because the deck sticking out the sides can go under bushes. We have about 1/4 mile of shoreline that has a slope to it, and I've pulled out stick driven Zero turns that have slid sideways in. This one holds fine with never a slip.

Long story shortened, I can cut everything now, have the mower rinsed off and put back in the shop in a few minutes less than two hours. It will get faster as I can get some parts of it smoother so I don't have to slow down for the bumps. The mower will cut a 6' swath up to 14 mph. I would like it better if it had some suspension, which is not available with four wheel steer, but the air ride seat makes it pretty comfortable.

I also use it around the pasture fences sometimes because the deck will go under the lowest fence board.

I'm 73 and it's actually fun to operate it.

Electric deck height control is an option. I didn't get that since I don't change heights a lot. It's not hard, but not easy to change the deck height unless you have strong legs to push on the raising pedal.

https://www.cubcadet.com/en_US/commercial-zero-turn-mowers/pro-z-972-s-kw/53FIHMUY050.html?fitsOnModel=false#start=15

[Ken Fitzgerald]

7 years ago, we were with a group touring Ireland. One of the places we toured was the Newgrange tomb structure. Due to my bad back, bad knees and height I elected not to enter the tombs narrow passageway with my wife and others so I with a small group walked the path around the tomb. During the walk I saw the guy responsible for mowing its somewhat steep acreage. He was using a large low-slung mower but controlling it using a wireless hand controller joystick on a small box strapped to his chest via a harness. I chuckled and asked him what something like that cost. He said he thought it cost about 5,000 pounds. I said then I would never have one.

[Bill George]

I am going on 81 and have a 1/3 acre to mow, I just hop on my John Deere Zero turn and get it done.

[Alan Rutherford]

I am going on 81 and have a 1/3 acre to mow, I just hop on my John Deere Zero turn and get it done.

Older than you are and I have an even better solution for the patchwork of spaces totalling about an acre that gets mowed here: I go down to the garage and get out the Deere x304 for my slightly-younger wife, who loves cleaning, organizing and mowing things. I think that wouldn't work for Perry though, and probably wouldn't work for me if we had his 8 acres.

[Derek Meyer]

Our Pullman store has one of those radio-controlled mowers. It is very low to the ground and can mow some pretty steep hillsides. we have one that is about 45 or 50 degrees and this mower goes up and down it with no problems. My supervisor (our COO) took it home with him one weekend and mowed the hillsides at his property, which are also pretty steep. He said it's easy to control and fun to operate. I have no idea what brand or model it is, or how much it costs. I can find out if anyone is interested. It's a little bigger than a standard walk-behind mower but not a lot. One person can load in into and out of a pickup.

Derek

[Monte Milanuk]

Been starting to consider these, at least a little.

We moved a few years ago, and the current place has a decent sized yard. 1/2 acre lot, with a front and back yard separated by a fence. At the time, I got a used Husqvarna YTH22V46 riding lawn mower (22hp, 46" deck) that someone we knew had refurbished. While it was a step up from what we had (push mower), after a few years it's starting to show it's age/wear.

The son-in-law runs a landscaping/lawn care business (several hours away, unfortunately) and had been a dealer/rep for some brand of robo mower for a while (most of his customers have fairly high-end properties, so money wasn't an issue). Had a lot of problems, eventually dropped them as he spent way too much time on service calls.

This summer, as I was starting to think it might be time to get a new zero-turn mower, I happened to see some 'on sale' @ the big orange box store. For $7k :eek: Granted, those were the electric / battery powered versions, but still. Wow. Figure if I'm going to be spending that kind of money, I should at least get the damn thing to do it for me. Then again, I'm not sure how much something like the newer Husqvarna robo mowers cost?

One of the sticking points for us is that whole front/back yard fence thing. As it sits currently, it's a matter of mow the front yard, stop, open the double gates, lock them open, remove the center post and set it aside, and drive thru. Mow the back yard, exit the same way, and put everything back. Not a huge deal, but it is an annoyance nonetheless. I've seen pics/videos of robo mower setups where they'd come up to a fence, pause, and a small gate (essentially a robo mower sized 'doggy door') would open, the mower would trundle through, and go do it's business. When it headed back to the 'barn' for charging, same thing. Neat idea, zero info on the implementation and I'm getting to the point where I don't really want a one-off 'custom' DIY setup. If I *did*, though, there is always the Open Mower project (https://github.com/ClemensElflein/OpenMower)... ;)

[Malcolm McLeod]

We tried a service that provided and maintained the 'bot with a 'invisible wire' fence buried at yard perimeter. This experiment was ~4yrs ago, and lasted about 1/2 of a summer: the yard looked like crap 70% of the time, the 'bot was broken, faulted, lost, dead, or stuck 80% of the time. We cancelled the service, and I cannot recall the maker of the mower itself.

Perhaps tech has gotten better? Perhaps retailers will allow a short duration, pre-purchase trial? Perhaps there is a local rental service that you can evaluate a unit for longer duration? Regardless - beware.

[Perry Holbrook]

Update. So I'm back from the lawn mower show and thought I'd update robotic mowers for anyone interested. It's clear the industry thinks robotics is the future and all are trying to figure out what the market will be and how to meet those needs. I saw maybe 30 different companies that either had a machine in production or were showing prototypes.
They fit in 3 classes.

1. A true robot that did not look like a traditional mower. They were remote control and/or robotic. Could mow hill sides, wet lands, lawns anything. Around $100 K.

2. Bobcat, Scag, and others had machines that looked like a standard zero turn with large decks that you could set on and operate or you could get off and control remotely with a joy stick or you could train it to mow with autonomy. A lawn service can go to the job, drop off the machine and come back to pick it up after the job is done. These machines were prototype with expected production mid next year. Around $30 K

3. Husqvarna, Toro and others had small machines about the size and weight of a larger push mower. They can keep lawns from 1 to 9 acres in size looking freshly cut at all times because they basically run every 1 to 2 days. Some of these machines are currently mowing major golf courses and major league ball parks. It would take 3 of the mid size Husqvarna machines to keep my place freshly mowed at all times. The total cost of those 3 machines would be relatively the same as the cost of the Ferris mower I use now.

It's clear the industry will be much different on 4 to 5 years.. At least I know that when I get too old or wore out, there will be some affordable options available.

It was a very good show with very knowledgeable and helpful booth staffs.

[Bill Dufour]

I have to ask why do folks, without small kids, have a lawn that needs mowing? I grew up in California and I remember my father saying lawns make sense if you live in Connecticut but in California? Look at old photos and no one had lawns until lawn mowers were invented around 1880. Get some sheep and build a haw haw fence.
Bill D

[Jim Koepke]

Look at old photos and no one had lawns until lawn mowers were invented around 1880.

Actually lawns came in well before the invention of the lawnmower. First patent for a lawn mower was in 1830. It did have some kinks to work out.

Lawns were pretty much limited to those who could afford to pay for the maintenance.


It wasn't until much later during the 17th and 18th centuries when lawns really took off in the aristocratic gardens of England. Unlike the lawns we have today, these early lawns were similar to meadows and were made up of wild plants like camomile. Having a lawn in your garden was a status symbol, it showed that your property had land that didn't need to be used for food production and that you could afford to keep the lawn maintained.

Prior to the invention of lawnmowers, it would cost a fair amount of money to keep a large lawn trimmed and healthy. It was common for a scythe or a pair of shears to be used to cut the lawn.

Many sports fields had lawns.

The scythe is an ancient implement and I have used one for mowing parts of my yard. Now days I hire someone with a weed eater to take care of it.

Shears have also been around with usage in ancient Egypt as much as 4,000 years ago.

Not sure when the first "standing shears" were made.

509426

I have seen images of this type of shears used for lawn trimming before the lawnmower came into use.

jtk

[Alan Rutherford]

I have to ask why do folks, without small kids, have a lawn that needs mowing?...

Because it's a lot easier to maintain than this and you can actually walk on it.

509433


We happily mow the part of our property that has been cleared and planted with grass. The part we haven't gotten to looks like this. Worse than this, actually. The foreground of the picture has had the brush and vines cut to provide access to cut down the leaning tree, which arced across our driveway where it was precariously supported by another dead tree.

[Patty Hann]

I have to ask why do folks, without small kids, have a lawn that needs mowing?.
Bill D

Because rock and gravel and tussock-y wild plants do not feel good to bare feet, nor is any of that fun to lie in, and none of that stuff smells as nice as new mown grass.
And I like green and it puts out O₂ and it reduces the temperature near my house by at least 5 degF (which in summer in Phoenix is a big deal)

[Ronald Blue]

I have to ask why do folks, without small kids, have a lawn that needs mowing? I grew up in California and I remember my father saying lawns make sense if you live in Connecticut but in California? Look at old photos and no one had lawns until lawn mowers were invented around 1880. Get some sheep and build a haw haw fence.
Bill D

Clearly you have never lived where there is actual fertile soil underneath the grass. If you don't have grass here you will have weeds and likely in time brush. If it's bare it will be mud whenever it's rainy or snowy. Grass when established is very durable and desirable at least East of the Rockies. People generally had fences to keep the barn yard animals out of the yard years ago. While it might be biodegradable with time goats leave their own mess behind. Wouldn't be much point in having a yard if it wasn't really usable.