Robotic Lawn Mower Trends to 2020

Based on a recently commissioned report by Technavio (via Market Research Reports), the future for robotic lawn mowers looks bright.

Here are some headlines:

• Impressive double digit growth for the worldwide market;
• Market will pick up in the US, where sales have been sluggish;
• Next generation of mowers driven by improved safety and technological advances;
• As more enter the market, and challenge the incumbents prices will fall.

Read on to discover the movers and shakers of this exciting market, based on our own keyword based research commissioned from The Keyword Coach.

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Robotic Lawn Mower Brands

According to our research, the leading brands worldwide are:

• Husqvarna
• Worx / Landroid
• John Deere
• Bosh
• Honda
• Flymo
• Viking

Together these brands account for about 59% of all search traffic, with Husqvarna and Landroid leading the pack.

It's worth pointing out that Husqvarna is something of a pioneer in the marketplace, and has previously sued Worx for patent infringement (source: GreenIndustryPros.com) Meanwhile, they also manufactured for Flymo and Gardena -- or at least there is more than a passing resemblance between Husqvarna's mowers and the Flymo 1200R and Gardena R40Li models.

While Flymo has about 6% of the market, Gardena has less than 2%, based on the research conducted around search terms for robotic lawn mowers in the 12 months up to March 2017.

Robotic Lawn Mower Features

When it comes to features, most search users seem to be looking for the 'best' robotic mower.

This is backed up by the countless references to reviews, versus comparisons, and other phrases that indicate some kind of pitching brands against each other.

However, it's also worth noting that 12% of searchers were looking for mowers that don't rely on a perimeter wire to delimit the mowing area.

At the same time, there is interest in using solar power for robotic mowers, as well as those that are fitted with GPS. The latter interest might have been sparked by reports in the media of robot mower thefts.

While most results across UK/US/World followed a general trend, it is interesting that the UK seems more interested than the US in kit built mowers, and the US market seems more interested in GPS equipped mowers than any other specific feature (excluding 'best').

The Rise of DIY Robotic Lawn Mowers

An interesting result of the search analysis that wasn't expected was the number of searches using words associated with building your own robotic lawn mower:

• Arduino had the same popularity as Honda;
• Raspberry Pi has the same popularity as Gardena...
• ...as does "Open Source Robot Lawn Mowers"!

It seems that this sector has some interesting times ahead; for retail, kit, and DIY mowers that use advances in modern technology to make cutting your lawn easier, and greener, than every before.

Half of Dallas Startup Robin's Robotic Lawnmowers Got Stolen!

Sorry for the sensationalist headline, but according to a recent piece on the Dallas News website, titled "Robots are coming to cut a lawn near you...", that's exactly what happened when the startup robotic lawnmower rental service trialled 12 devices during market testing.

European robot lawnmower owners will probably find that number a bit disconcerting. After all, uptake has been brisk,and I know plenty of people who have, or are looking to buy a robotic lawnmower as a replacement for their old gas guzzler.

Robotic Lawnmower Security Features

It's worth noting that there are essentially three kinds of robotic lawnmower:

• Grass sensing;
• Perimeter wire;
• GPS trained.

As pointed out in "The Perils of a Robot Lawnmower with No Perimeter Wire" one of the issues of the first kind is that they can be easily stolen and re-purposed elsewhere.

The GPS trained mowers have the advantage that, if stolen, they can be tracked. However, this also requires that they are communication enabled, too, which usually means a privately monitored service (such as those available for newer cars) or effectively giving the mower the robot equivalent of a mobile phone.

(It's worth noting that the article points out that recovery of several of the mowers was down to the fact that they contained GPS locator units -- expensive, but worth the extra cost.)

A perimeter wire solution, however, also ensures that the mower can't be used anywhere else, and is a relativity standard and cost-effective solution to the problem of both limiting the mowing area, and securing the mower.

In addition, most mowers come with PIN codes and alarms, plus a sticker that warns would be thieves that the device is protected. Stealing one would cause the alarm to go off, and it would be useless without the PIN, and doubly useless without the coded base station which is very hard to remove once set up.

The fact that 6 out of 12 robot mowers were stolen in Dallas would seem to indicate that there is a certain lack of education in the market around just how secure these devices are. The article itself seems to agree, citing a Robomow representative's experience that "robotic mowing companies are still educating American customers and answering questions."

Security was one concern, but other factors cited in the piece include the statement that "installation can be a headache"; something that readers of this blog will disagree with -- after all, it's just about preparation and research, something which the mower companies need to spend a bit more time on.

Having said that, we have our own Robotic Lawn Mower Buyer's Guide FAQ which you can download for FREE, and which will help you decide which mower to buy, how best to install it, and all the questions you need to be able to answer (and ask!) before you buy and install your mower.