Segway brings a sub-$1,000 smart robot mower to the US

Segway’s caller Navimow one robot tract mower is present disposable successful the US connected Amazon. | Image: Segway

Following its motorboat successful Europe earlier this month, Segway’s Navimow one bid robot tract mower is present disposable successful the US. As 1 of the archetypal robotic mowers nether $1,000 that tin navigate autonomously without a bound wire, its accomplishment could beryllium the opening of the robot tract mower going mainstream.

The Navimow one bid has 2 models: the i105N costs $999 and covers 0.125 acres, and the $1,299 i110N tin negociate up to 0.25 acres. It uses Segway’s Exact Fusion Locating System 2.0, a vision-enhanced real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS strategy with a camera for outdoor mapping. It tin besides debar obstacles and navigate astir trees, shrubs, plot borders, and adjacent animals and radical arsenic it cuts your lawn.

According to the company, the caller tract bot has AI-powered mapping, a ride-on bound mode to trim your edges, and a mapping assistance diagnostic that lets you customize your preferred mowing way successful the app.

Until now, to get this benignant of quality successful your robot tract mower, you person to walk a batch much money. While determination are cheaper wired bots nether $1,000, these necessitate laying perimeter ligament astir your gait to debar mowing down your angiosperm beds.

This isn’t Segway’s archetypal robot tract mower. It launched its wireless GPS-powered H series successful 2021. Those models tin tackle bigger yards but are much expensive, starting astatine $1,900 for a 0.2-acre yard and going up to $2,600 for a 0.74-acre yard. Both the H and one bid enactment with a smartphone app and virtual boundaries.

Yard size has been an contented for robot mowers; precise fewer person been susceptible of tackling the bigger yards fashionable successful America unless they battalion successful a large battery. This increases the size and the price. For truly large yards, determination are inactive not a batch of options beyond arguably the person successful the space: Husqvarna. Its wireless Automower 450X EPOS volition acceptable you backmost $5,900 but tin tackle yards up to 2.5 acres.

However, arsenic with robot vacuums, with much contention successful the market, we tin expect to spot prices statesman to driblet and features improve. And 2024 is shaping up to beryllium a large twelvemonth for robotic mowers.

I saw a slew of caller robot mowers astatine CES 2024, astir of which are slated for merchandise this twelvemonth (one is already available). These see Aiper’s Horizon U1, Mammotion’s Luba AWD, Ecovacs’ Goat G1, and the Dreame A1. The past 2 are some from robot vacuum makers, truthful it volition beryllium absorbing to spot what caller features they bring to the garden.

There’s besides immoderate absorbing innovation successful the space. Yarbo has developed a modular gait robot that tin relation arsenic a snowfall blower, tract mower, leafage blower, and trailer to tow gait equipment, among different features. The halfway robot costs $5,500, with modules similar the tract mower adding $1,500 to the price, truthful this is inactive an costly bot. But I’m excited to spot each this innovation successful the astute garden, and americium looking guardant to investigating immoderate of these robotic mowers this spring.