Comment on Any self hosted robotic lawn mowers?
Faceman2K23@discuss.tchncs.de 5 days ago
there are a couple of projects I’ve seen, and surely people will fork off one of the open robo-vac projects to spin knives.
Robot mowers are in this grey area where if you have a big enough area to mow that you cant walk it in 15 minutes with a push mower, you could get a small riding mower for the same price, and now you also have a handy tractor too.
I like them, but that’s because i’m a lazy tech head, but just like high end robot vacuums they seem like one of those things that you spend good money on, they work reasonably well for a while, then break and are unfixable and the company behind them doesn’t help.
that said… there is a decent crossover in the region of “lazy tech head” and “enough disposable income” that would use a robot mower on a small lawn.
My front yard takes over an hour with a push mower and the terrain is too complex for a ride mower. I’d be curious if I’d be the exception, unless the robot mowers are terrible at landscape changes like a robot vacuum would be. Including some boulders… But maybe still cheaper to hire some kid if I get that far on the lazy scale.
ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 days ago
Mine runs really well in my somewhat complex yard. I have a firepit with an angled bench, a dugout trampoline, a swing set, several randomly placed trees, and currently an aboveground pool with solar heater in my yard. None of these things are mapped out, I only mapped the edge of my yard with it. It also handles my driveway which is partially covered in grass and accessible through a narrow gate (~10cm on either side of the mower when it passes through). For ~800€ I think it performs really well, and everything is fairly cramped in my 400sqrm yard, so lots of narrow passages for it to navigate.