Ambrogio robot mowers can mow as often or infrequently as you choose, but the best lawn quality is achieved by the “little and often” approach. During the growing season a typical programme would set the robot to mow every day, covering about a third of the total lawn area on each outing, therefore cutting each patch of grass every three days.

Yes, they detect when their batteries are running low and return themselves to the charging base station (except the L60 Deluxe).

They have built in rechargeable batteries, so the robots themselves don’t need to be continuously connected to an electricity source, but the recharging base stations do. The base stations need to be connected to the 13A mains.

As a rough rule of thumb the total electricity consumption for a 9 month cutting season works out at about £10 per 1000 sqm, or £40 per acre. So if your lawn is 500 sqm, about £5 per year, and for a full size football field it would be about £100 per year. This is a small fraction of the equivalent fuel cost for a petrol mower covering the same areas. It is advisable to send the robots for an annual service, and currently at Ambrogio UK the full service costs about £180.

Compared to using petrol mowers, there is no contest. Petrol lawn mower engines are horrendously polluting, currently among the most polluting engines still in use. They are roughly ten times more polluting than petrol cars, as mowers are far less efficient and have no catalytic converters. Ambrogio robot mowers’ electricity use is minimal, costing around £40 per acre per year. Furthermore, as they are “mulching mowers” which return the grass clippings to the soil, this cuts down on the amount of fertiliser needed.

They are dropped where they are cut, and slowly return their nutrients to the soil. This can reduce the need for fertiliser by up to 25%. They won’t be noticeable if each area is cut at least twice per week, and the cuttings are therefore very short. So no more need to have to dispose of grass clippings.

Robotic mowers have been around for over 20 years. They are still not that common in Britain, but they are a much more frequent sight in mainland Europe. Ambrogio had been manufacturing robotic mowers for 20 years and is one of the most trusted brands in Europe.

The Ambrogio robots* will only work within the lawn perimeter wire, which sends out an electrical pulse which the mower recognises. When it reaches the wire it turns around. *Except the L60 Deluxe.

Yes. Ambrogio robots are weatherproof and won’t suffer from mowing in the rain, and they’re designed to work at an ambient temperature from -10 to + 50°C, a range that is much wider than the growth rate of grass. Most of our mowers do have rain sensors built in so can be set not to mow in the rain if you wish. However due to being lighter than a traditional mower and cutting minuscule amounts each time, it is not a problem generally to mow in the wet, although if parts of your lawn are prone to becoming boggy in heavy rain it may be better to programme them to work only when it’s dry.

Better than conventional mowers, because they’re lighter and because they don’t need a person treading the ground behind them. However, they shouldn’t be used in truly boggy conditions.

Yes, provided that these objects are over 4 inches high. Ambrogio robots will approach and gently touch an obstacle in order to cut the grass around it. Our robots will then proceed to cut in a different direction.

Very well on the whole! The robots are not very fast moving and so are very unlikely to startle or bump into a pet. Dogs are often initially curious but soon get used to them. If pet owners want to be particularly careful, a special electronic tag called “Amico” can be put on collars which stop the robot blades turning and diverts the mower in a different direction, if mower and pet get too close to each other.

The Ambrogio L400 Elite can serve an area up to 30,000 sq metres or seven acres! Ambrogio robots can also work as a team to manage any size area. With the Infinity+ system they communicate with each other using their web connectivity, to make sure they’re cutting the whole area as efficiently as possible. With large and complex lawn layouts it may work better to use two smaller robots than one larger one. This is the sort of thing I can advise on during a survey.

All the models in the Ambrogio range can cope with slopes up to 45%, although there are some caveats e.g. they can cope with slopes better in the middle of a lawn than at the edge/perimeter. It will depend on the exact layout of your lawn, and this is something I can advise on during a lawn survey.

Either using the touch screen on the robot itself, or more usually by using an app on your phone connected to the robot. Not only can you control all the settings and programming from your phone, the robot can record and provide you with as much information on its performance and history as you want (and quite possibly a lot more!)

Ambrogio models feature a number of security features. They feature a Geofence Alarm to inform you and your phone app immediately if they leave their cutting area. The GPS feature means you can always locate the robot from your app. With most models the touch screen on the robot can be locked with a PIN, so nobody other than you can use the robot’s controls. In any case, it will not work outside its perimeter wire (except for the L60 Deluxe). So they’re no use to a thief. More prosaically, all but the smallest models are heavy enough to be very uncomfortable to carry more than a few dozen yards, and the L400 models need two people to lift them. Having said all that, these are not failsafes; you will need to make sure the robot is included in your property’s insurance.

In addition to the sensors which make the robot change direction if they hit anything, Ambrogio mowers sense if they have been tipped over or lifted and automatically stop the mowing blade rotating. They also have Emergency Stop push buttons.

Unfortunately not. Most Ambrogio models will cut along the line of the perimeter wire which will reduce the amount of edge cutting needed, but the edges will still need cutting separately every now and then. The robot strimmer has yet to be invented!

The best thing to do is work out how much time and/or money you are currently spending per year on cutting your grass. If you pay a gardener or groundskeeper, how much of what you pay him/her is for cutting the grass? If so, in most cases robot mowers will “pay for themselves” in little over a year, and should last for at least five (there are many far older than this still in use).

If you do the mowing yourself you need to decide what having that time back is worth to you? How much do you spend on fertiliser, as you’ll need 20-25% less with a robot mower?

Then there are the other benefits to consider: Cutting every day means the lawn will always look freshly cut – no more watching it get scruffier by the day until your gardener is next due, or you have time to do it yourself again. There are also the pollution-saving benefits. In a lot of cases the value of these benefits is subjective.