Robot lawn mowers may be the future of lawn care, but it turns out many U.S. homeowners currently think buying one of these smart mowers is a dumb idea.
To assess the adoption of robot lawn mowers — why people have or don’t have them — and the pluses and minuses of these gadgets, Lawn Love surveyed over 700 homeowners with a lawn.
We found that the majority of them do not own a robot mower, and price is the biggest deterrent.
Key findings:
- 🤔41.23% of respondents without a robot lawn mower don’t want one, and 27.44% are unsure about robot lawn mowers.
- 💰49.84% of respondents without a robot mower say they are too expensive.
- 😊87% of the 92 respondents who have robot lawn mowers are satisfied with their quiet grass-cutting machines.
Discover more insights below.
Where in the U.S. are residents most ready to adopt a robot lawn mower? Explore 2025’s Best Cities for Robot Lawn Mower Ownership.
In this article
- Infographic: Smart mowers survey
- Survey insights
- Demographic insights
- Infographic: History of automatic lawn mowers
- Behind the survey
- Turf war: Robots vs. humans
Infographic: Smart mowers survey
Survey insights
Insights from homeowners without a robot mower
(616 Respondents)
- 27.26% of respondents say they want a robot mower, while 35.88% say they do not want one. 23.87% are unsure if they’d want to purchase an automatic lawn mower.
Insights from robot mower owners
(92 Respondents)
- Over half of respondents with robot mowers have had theirs for 1-2 years.
- The most popular incline range among survey respondents who use smart mowers is 35% to 44% (28.26%).
- While being “rainproof” proves to be a desirable feature, it’s important to note that mowing on wet grass isn’t just a dangerous endeavor with a typical lawn mower, but it can also cause damage to your grass and soil.
General insights
(708 Respondents)
- Robot lawn mower owners are least likely to spend over 2 hours on their lawn (3.26%), but those not owning robomowers are most likely to keep it under an hour (35.06%).
Demographic insights
Age
- Peace of mind: Respondents aged 45 to 54 are most likely to have a robot mower with anti-theft features (30.77%) and are least concerned about theft (15.38%) of their smart mower.
- Folks ages 65 and up are most likely to say they don’t own an automated mower because they prefer to hire a lawn care professional (14.94%).
- Younger respondents (18 to 24) are most concerned about their robot mower cutting a poor quality mow (45.45%).
Income
- Folks making $150,000 or more are most likely to hire a lawn care professional (19.44%) over investing in a new robot mower.
Education
- 19.23% of respondents with advanced degrees say they haven’t purchased an automated lawn mower because their lawn is too bumpy or uneven.
- Respondents with a college degree are most likely to say their robot mower has damaged other plants (26.47%) and lawn decorations (17.65%).
Infographic: History of automatic lawn mowers
Behind the survey
Lawn Love collected survey responses from a random sample of 1,072 U.S. residents aged 18 or older via Alchemer and Cint on February 24, 2025.
Out of this sample, 708 of the respondents said they have a lawn — 616 of whom do not have a robot mower and 92 who own a robot lawn mower.
Each response was anonymized using a unique user ID generated and assigned by Cint.
Note: This survey data does not stem from a probability sample, therefore no margin of error can be calculated.
Turf war: Robots vs. humans
With concerns about the expense of robot mowers and capabilities of their lawn range and agility, it may be a while before the mowbots become a common sight in most neighborhoods.
When it comes to automated grass trimming, the bigger the desired mow range, the more expensive the smart mower will likely be. Models like Husqvarna CEORA — designed for commercial use — can cover around 18 acres but will cost a steep $32,000.
However, the grass may literally be greener for homeowners with a smart mower. Preliminary research from the University of Kentucky shows that adopting robot mowers might even lead to healthier grass.
One study found that using robot mowers increased grass density in comparison to rotary mowers. Results from another study show turf trimmed by robots grows greener.
Some smart mowers on the market come with options for patterns like stripes or checkerboard lawns. New lawnbot models have “lawn printing” capabilities, allowing specialty designs and even words cut into the turf, all from a few taps on your smartphone.
Robots vs. humans? Well, there isn’t even a real skirmish yet. At the end of the day, for most homeowners, a healthy and beautifully trimmed lawn is enough – no matter whether it’s done DIY, by a hired lawn crew, or a whisper-quiet robot mower.
Like programming a robot mower, using a lawn care service like Lawn Love is as simple as a few taps on your phone. Your local Lawn Love crew can handle more than mowing, tackling other lawn care tasks like weed control, aeration, seeding, and more.
Hire a local Lawn Love crew to handle all your lawn care needs.
Media resources
Quotes from Lawn Love Editor-in-Chief Sharon Sullivan:
- Robot mowers are most popular with respondents between 35 and 44, with 21.3% saying they have adopted one. They are least popular with folks ages 65 and up, with only 0.85% of respondents saying they own one and 66.23% saying they do not want one.
- Over half of respondents between 18 and 34 say they want a robot mower. Two-thirds of respondents ages 65 and up say they do not want one.
- Over 1/4 of homeowners between 35 and 44 years old with a lawn say they have adopted an automatic lawn mower.
- Young respondents (18 to 24) are more concerned about smart mowers causing harm to wildlife (36.36%) than other age groups.
- High-resolution image of Smart Mowers Survey infographic
- High resolution image of History of Automatic Lawn Mowers infographic
Main photo credit: FotoHelin / Adobe Stock / License
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