Honda Introduces All-Electric, Autonomous Lawnmower That Can Drive Itself

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Experiencing bad lawn care? There may be more to blame than lazy landscapers in the coming years, as Honda is the latest company to introduce a lawnmower that can be programmed to drive itself. The Autonomous Work Mower, as Honda's version is appropriately called, is a battery-powered electric zero-turn riding (ZTR) mower from the automaker that features a "Teaching" mode for manual operation and a "Playback" mode for autonomous operation, as well as smartphone support for displaying mowing paths and more. Honda's new lawnmower is even able to stop in front of obstacles automatically, so nobody is accidentally run over.

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As with cars, I enjoy using gas-powered appliances like lawn mowers. I don't like the electric kinds. I also like cutting my own grass. Don't need a robot to do that for me. Still, this is kinda neat, I guess.
 
As with cars, I enjoy using gas-powered appliances like lawn mowers. I don't like the electric kinds. I also like cutting my own grass. Don't need a robot to do that for me. Still, this is kinda neat, I guess.
I don't like gas powered garden appliances. They never start when you need them, they are loud, dirty and smelly. I got a battery powered mower a few years ago, best decision ever.
 
I don't like gas powered garden appliances. They never start when you need them, they are loud, dirty and smelly. I got a battery powered mower a few years ago, best decision ever.
Admittedly I don't use gas-powered leaf blowers, I'm fine using the electric ones. Those are just as loud as the gas-powered ones though. Electric lawn mowers get just as dirty as the gas-powered ones. Luckily I haven't had to deal with many gas-powered mowers in my life that were troublesome to start.
 
Admittedly I don't use gas-powered leaf blowers, I'm fine using the electric ones. Those are just as loud as the gas-powered ones though. Electric lawn mowers get just as dirty as the gas-powered ones. Luckily I haven't had to deal with many gas-powered mowers in my life that were troublesome to start.
I'm not talking about getting dirty from usage, but the inevitable spilling of fuel and engine oil. Even the exhaust fumes contain some fuel due to running rich. Plus having to keep jugs of fuel around, getting 2-stroke oil to mix in, it is so much hassle.
 
I'm not talking about getting dirty from usage, but the inevitable spilling of fuel and engine oil. Even the exhaust fumes contain some fuel due to running rich. Plus having to keep jugs of fuel around, getting 2-stroke oil to mix in, it is so much hassle.
Probably fine if you don't have acres to mow, weed eat, edge and blow. I'd be out there all day on an electric zero turn if I had to use one. No thanks.

And who spills gas or oil? I have hanging fuel storage with nozzles. Not a drop hits the ground.
 
Probably fine if you don't have acres to mow, weed eat, edge and blow. I'd be out there all day on an electric zero turn if I had to use one. No thanks.
If you have acres you need a tractor, not a lawnmower. I only have a garden, as most people who need a lawnmower.
And who spills gas or oil? I have hanging fuel storage with nozzles. Not a drop hits the ground.
Well, sorry, I'm not so perfect as to be able to eliminate even the last droplet from the nozzle when lifting it. A can of gas smells up the entire garage even when it just sits closed.
 
I moved to an electric mower this spring, and it was a fantastic decision. Not only does it just get charged with my solar panels, eliminating the need to pay for gas, it also is quiet enough I can take a conference call while I mow and actually hear what's being discussed. This means I can turn a 90 minute status call into a 90 minute status call + getting the lawn mowed.
 
Some things electric works just fine for. If you have a small enough yard, an electric mower is a great idea, and as batteries get better, the area an electric mower can reasonably and efficiently cover will get better. Same with many other tools. It's all about picking the right tool for the job.

You must have awful gas mowers and/or fuel quality in Europe MadMummy - I won't say gas motors are perfect, but on my yard equipment it's usually everything else breaks down before the engine goes - last mower I had the deck just rusted through but ran great. I did have a push mower finally give up and die - it finally lost compression, but it was also 10 years old and I ran a lot of hours through it so I don't feel like it died out early -- and even that I could have rebuilt, but the rest of the mower was showing a lot worse age.

I do love my electric weed eater, it's great around the house and I love that I don't have to wear earmuffs while running it. But if I try to take it back on the mountainside I don't have enough batteries to go all day - I can get a good hour out of it before I'm just waiting on batteries to recharge. Yeah, you can buy more batteries, but those big ones are $$$$$ - I don't think you save money over gas on that, particularly since the batteries are "consumable" and will only last a handful of years, but I do like the convenience - MadMummy and Endgame are not wrong there. Similarly with my leaf blower - the electric one is great for just touching up after mowing, but once fall hits, we gotta get out the big gas one to make a dent in the big piles of leaves and pine needles.
 
My folks got us an electric one shortly after we got our house and I've mostly enjoyed it. It's one of the early plug-in models which is my only complaint. Our backyard is walled in and isn't huge but it has its own complications that end up with me taking about an hour or so to mow and navigating the cord is always annoying. On the plus side, it's a high-amp model with tons of torque and a standard-type blade so there's no problem with it taking things on.

I've thought about getting a battery-based one but it's not a priority as I normally only need to do this 2-4 times a year. Like a lot of us, I used to mow lawns back in the day, either as a chore or for extra cash and I don't miss the fumes or mess either.
 
MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE!!!!!!

Sorry that's all I can think about with self driving semi's, cars, and now lawnmowers. Just waiting on autonomous soda machines.
 
I'm still using a gas powered lawn mower, was planning on purchasing a greenworks battery mower last spring, but kinda forgot about it until reading this thread.

I don't have a huge issue with gas powered mowers, and they're easy enough to maintain. However, replacing my 2-stage gas snowblower for a 2-stage electric snowblower was a great (albeit pricey) decision. Used to hate trying to get the gas snowblower to start in winter, always a struggle made worse with how cold it usually is. However, the battery powered blower is so easy to start and run.
 
I think the problem people have with gas powered small engine yard equipment is buying the consumer grade garbage they sell at Lowes Depot. Like weed eaters and blowers. Get commercial grade. Stihl, Echo, Kubota, Husqvarna. I lasts forever with minimal issues. I'll still be using my backpack blower and weed easter long after yall can't get replacement batteries for your electric ones. It's why I have dewalt drills sitting in a bin that dewalt no longer makes batteries for. And the aftermarket third party batteries are trash.
 
Also I must admit, that as I get farther into the second-half of my human age range, pull-start gas engines are starting to take their toll on me. And then when I do come across the kinds of engines @MadMummy76 was complaining about that are a real pain-in-the-@ss to start, yyeeaahh my skeleton and muscles are liable to start a revolt against me, trying to get those dang pull-start motors going. I still hope to get my hands on one of those small personal hovercrafts one day, and those tend to be pull-start too, so I'm already groaning.

I do love my electric weed eater, it's great around the house and I love that I don't have to wear earmuffs while running it.
Oh yes, electric weed eater, I do use one of those as well. I forget that gas-powered ones exist for that tool, for some reason.

All you guys keep mentioning batteries. All my electric sh1t is corded. I've had some battery-powered stuff in the past, like a weed eater. It was okay, but I dunno I just got used to daisy-chaining extension cords and pulling the cable around. I don't even notice it much. There's a risk of damage though. One time I cut clean through a brand-new outdoor extension cord with my parents' hedge trimmer.

However, replacing my 2-stage gas snowblower for a 2-stage electric snowblower was a great (albeit pricey) decision.
I wish I had a snowblower to begin with.

Like a lot of us, I used to mow lawns back in the day, either as a chore or for extra cash and I don't miss the fumes or mess either.
My friend got a townhouse in an area covered by an HOA, and he does not miss doing yard work. HOA takes care of everything. Growing up, he never did care for his parents making him do yard work, and he hated it with a passion. I never really seemed to mind it anywhere near as much as all my other friends, as I had been doing it since I was so young, and my parents expected all kids (especially me as the oldest) to contribute heavily to that. Some stuff I just ended up enjoying, like lawn mowers, where I get to use a giant blade connected to a freakin' gas motor to chop plants down. Chainsaws are incredibly fun too, and there I've used both gas and electric. Gas ones are more fun but also way more annoying to use and maintain. Electric ones are plenty fun enough. I also like hedge trimmers. What I do NOT enjoy doing is shoveling snow. I'm not a cold-weather guy to begin with. Oh and raking leaves at my parents' house, f*ck that too. That area has a sh1t-ton of trees. But yeah I guess it depends on how big your yard is, and how many different types of yard work you gotta do, that determines how annoying it is. In my friend's case, I thought his parents' yards were more than acceptable, and he was just being a whiny b1tch.

I'll still be using my backpack blower
I always wanted one of those. I'd see the pro guys using them when they clean people's yards, and sometimes I've thought about running up to one of them and asking them if I could try those things out for a couple minutes.
 
I used a Husqvarna push mower from 2007 until last year. It had become progressively harder to start through 2022 and around Halloween I just couldn't get it to start anymore. I had other stuff to do so just said "F it, the lawn is just not getting cut again until spring". When spring rolled around, I considered trying to get it to run again. BUT... I didn't want to pay anyone to do it, and had better stuff to do with my time, so I just cashed in some reward points from my credit card and got an Ego 12ah model for "free". If I get even 10 years out of it, I'm probably well ahead where I would have been fixing the old mower or buying a new gas model.
 
I used a Husqvarna push mower from 2007 until last year. It had become progressively harder to start through 2022 and around Halloween I just couldn't get it to start anymore. I had other stuff to do so just said "F it, the lawn is just not getting cut again until spring". When spring rolled around, I considered trying to get it to run again. BUT... I didn't want to pay anyone to do it, and had better stuff to do with my time, so I just cashed in some reward points from my credit card and got an Ego 12ah model for "free". If I get even 10 years out of it, I'm probably well ahead where I would have been fixing the old mower or buying a new gas model.

15 years and all it probably needed was a carb cleaning. Bet the pilot jet was clogged.
 
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