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I have no direct experience as a 'user', but have seen the Etesia product :
http://www.etesia.co.uk/etesia/etmowers.html
demo'd at two Open days.
It seems a usable solution (althought not sure about the ROI) and clearly would have some limtations, but believe there is more to come on this front as technology improves and costs reduce.
Professionally at the other end of the scale are robotic, remote controlled mowers (Ransomes) for use where H&S dictate no person should go (ie roadside banks etc).
I have seen some of the big commercial bankings robots in action and am not very impressed. In comparison with a man with a strimmer they aren't any quicker and cannot cover steeper banks than you can safely walk with spikes on.
As far as the lawn versions go, my Etesia dealer usually has one out on the lawn to catch the eye. They look alright and would be a talking point, but what if it gets stolen?
My husky dealer has 2 of the husky ones on the lawns around his yard, its out in the country a bit so is more a farm set-up with paddocks around. He got them out of interest and thinks they are pretty good. Once the zones are set-up with the cables etc they are quite self sufficient. For regular shaped lawns they could be good.
I had a client with the early Robomow machines about twelve years ago, in fact their sales video was shot in his garden. It was a hobby for him, or even an obsession, as the time involved was incredible. It took ages to sink all the wires, then he was forever cutting through it when edging or weeding. The machines were very low-powered, so only really any use on very flat lawns with fine grass that only needed the lightest of trims. it wouldn't stripe the lawns, and took a long time randomly trundling around until the battery was flat and you had a half-cut lawn. The batteries needed regular replacement as well.
I could cut the two areas he used the robomows on, about 100m2 each I seem to remember, in 30 minutes, no problems with it being too long or too wet. Total waste of time so far as I could see, and he spent thousands on the things. They'd need to have improved an awful lot to be worth considering IMO.
as said we do mowbots now and i have set one up on site so people who are interested can come down and see it working in a real life situation, ie obsticles / uneven terrain & the quality of cut it gives.
the pic is of the area it is set up on and shows all the trees etc that are in that area to be cut.
the mower works day and night unless a rest time is programed in and after its first set up will only need human intervention if there is a problem, at which point the mower sends a sms to the registerd phone to allert that persn of the problem, blade jamed / stuck in an area (tree roots etc) or even stolen.
if you wanted to know more detail on our mowbots i would be happy to send out some info in the post, just pm me your addres or send an email request to sales@etesia.co.uk
regards
neal barker
NO....
Looking at the site, they may be better off with ducks and chickens.
I let our poultry wander freely in our garden and they mow the grass very well and fertilise as they go, we always have the greenest grass around with no input from me.
The added bonus is they also feed us with there eggs.
Or look into goats or sheep, again very good at mowing the lawn if the area is to big for poultry to manage.
Also great interactions for the kids and there friends.
I help them with a design,
not the lawn mowing..
John www.acegardenservices.co.uk said:
Thats a very firm answer? Care to expand a little on it?
Brigitt Stevenson said:
You asked the question "Robotic lawnmower yes or no"
Bridget was merely answering your question :-)
Franne Ravensbergen said:
One for the future? Or not?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20102090
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