When a robot lawn mower could cost hundreds or even thousands of pounds, it’s understandable to be concerned about how to keep this home asset secured.
An autonomous lawn mower wandering around your garden day and night is a glaring, relatively slow-moving target for thieves or vandals.
But do robot lawn mowers get stolen? And if they do, can they be tracked, located, and traced?
In this article – We are going to examine robot mower theft or vandalism and explain why it’s not as common as you might think. We will also provide an overview of crucial security features to look for in robotic mowers and how to best secure your own robotic mower.
Robotic Lawn Mowers Do Not Get Stolen as Often as You’d Think
You could think surely robotic lawn mowers are an opportunity local thieves cannot resist!
After all, these mowers are a visible moving target they can see from a distance.
Garden equipment in general has become more and more high specification, and thieves look for any opportunity to steal and resell valuable garden tools.
So, is the security of your robotic mower a legitimate concern?
It’s clear that robotic mower dealers get asked this question about theft. Mower dealers assure their customers that the risk of a valued robotic mower being stolen or vandalized is low.
Stealing a Robotic Lawn Mower Is a Pointless Activity
This is definitely not a crime that will pay!
That’s because these are battery-operated robotic mowers and they will not work without their proper charging system and their boundary wire.
The mower looks like an expensive piece of equipment but an informed thief is not going to take the chance to uproot the charging station and wire as they make off with their ill-gotten gains.
In the end it is just not worth the trouble, the resale value of any orphaned robot mower is zero!
Is the Vandalism of Robot Mowers an Issue?
Vandalism of robotic lawn mowers is also infrequent, and generally a problem that is more likely to affect professional lawn mowers working in public spaces than robot mowers from a private garden.
However, it is possible that a less savory character might deface your mower with graffiti, stand on the mower, or strike the mower with an object.
To offset these risks, the onboard security features, as well as connectivity of the mower, will allow you to know at any time if an unauthorized person has come into contact with the mower for manipulation.
Also, these machines are designed with high manufacturing quality, with chassis, wheels, and connectors that are design resistant to physical impact and other issues related to unexpected damage.
Accidental Damage Is More Likely
Accidental damage is the most prevalent kind of damage experienced with robotic lawnmowers, especially if the mower is operating in busy places.
Common issues for these robots are:
- drink cans left on the ground
- clothes laying on the grass
- impacts to the mower from footballs or golf balls
Damage from Small Forgotten Objects on the Ground Is Mainly to the Blades, Which Can Usually Be Replaced
When the mower runs over something hard or tangling, the most vulnerable part is the rotating blades.
In most cases, either a single blade has become dulled or a single blade is broken, meaning that it can still operate and you will be able to find time to replace the blade.
7 Need-to-know Security Features of Robot Lawn Mowers
Robotic lawnmowers are equipped with modern anti-theft and security systems that protect them while they are working outside and left unattended for lots of time.
Here are seven common security features that make a robotic mower a ‘bad-buy’ for a thief.
1. Pin Code Access to Activate the Robot Mower and Use Its Control Panel
You can input this straightforward 4-digit PIN code to gain access to the control panel on most models of robotic mowers.
Without your unique personal identification number, they will simply lock out anyone trying to operate the mower.
2. Alarms Will Let You Know If Your Mower Is Being Tampered With
Alarms are yet another common security feature and can be programmed to whatever levels of security you desire.
If anyone touches or picks up your robot mower while it is still operating and hasn’t been disabled at the red emergency stop button or via the pin code, it will emit a loud sounding alarm.
The loud sounding alarm can only be stopped by entering the correct PIN code.
Although the alarm is likely more effective in thwarting a theft if the owner of the mower can also hear it, however neighbors may also miss the sound of the alarm.
3. Sensors Immediately Respond to Manhandling of a Robotic Mower
Robot lawnmowers have a variety of sensors and ultrasonics to help them navigate their environment.
Universal features are tilt and lift sensors that stop the mower from cutting grass if the mower is either tilted or frankly lifted.
In some cases the activation of the sensors may be a signal for an alarm or notifications automatically sent to the app.
4. Apps Provide You with Remote Monitoring and Control of Your Automatic Lawnmower
As a smart home device, robotic lawnmowers can be managed by an app and either a Wi-Fi or 4G/LTE connection, so you can control them remotely.
Real-time information can be pushed to your smartphone with the mower’s status, mowing progress, and issues.
Through the app, you can also program, start, or stop your mower remotely.
5. GPS Will Help You Track and Trace Your Robotic Mower
Most robotic mowers have a feature known as Global Positioning System (GPS), which allows the mower to navigate its route using satellites (geolocation and a boundary wire) to know where it is and its start/finish points.
GPS is a nice higher-end feature because it means the robot can mow without a boundary wire.
GPS definitely provides better security, as you can track your mower’s location remotely at any hour of the day.
GPS can be very accurate (as you will see later), and is known to be a strong deterrent to theft.
6. Pairing Between the Charging Station and the Robotic Mower Keeps Both Secure
Robotic lawn mowers depend on their free charging station to keep the batteries charged while they are mowing.
Most high-end robotic lawn mower brands will utilize an innovative wireless pairing for their mowers so the mower and charger are immobilized if they separated.
This extra deterrent prevents criminals from stealing a robotic lawn mower and hacking the software to make it work and then simply buy a charging station.
7. Blacklistsing High-end Mowers Prevents Them from Being Sold On
Top robotic mower manufacturers document the model and serial number of a sold mower, and immediately blacklist if it is ever stolen.
They record data of the stolen mower into a company database.
If someone attempts to have the stolen mower serviced, personnel that check the mower details will be notified they have blacklisted the machine and can alert authorities to check if the mower is stolen.
This ‘botnapper’ Was Nabbed by the Nasty Surprise of Onboard Gps
In Wichita Falls, TX, a thief took the opportunity to steal an expensive robotic lawn mower following a wave of garden equipment thefts in the neighborhood.
The robber must have seen the lawn mower doing its mowing on a regular basis and decided to help himself to this expensive looking piece of equipment while it was unattended.
What the thief did not know is that the owner’s state-of-the-art robotic lawn mower had GPS tracking that was sharing real-time location with the owner’s smartphone app.
Owner Cesar Tarango started receiving notifications on his phone indicating his mower had moved and there was a problem. He wasn’t too worried.
“I knew I was going to get the robot back. I wasn’t too worried about it, actually, I was worried that it was going to come back in pieces. But the robot showed me exactly where it was. The GPS in this thing is accurate to about a foot or two.” – Source
Tarango simply went to out to the last known location of his stolen robot, called the police, and they retrieved the lawn mower and arrested the suspect.
There are certainly more than a few stories out there of thieves like this one who have decided to take a chance stealing lawn mowers left out in the open and subsequently learned their lesson when the police showed up at their door.
Rounding Up
With thieves anything is possible and the last thing anyone wants when purchasing a new robotic mower is to have the mower stolen or vandalized.
The good news is that robotic mowers come equipped with various safety features that help mitigate the risk of theft, as well enable you to monitor the status of the operation of the robot at all times.
If theft is still a significant concern, you can program the mower to mow when you are home or you can locate the charging station in the secured area of the home.
Putting your mower away at night can limit the chance of an opportunist stealing your mower.
With the app, you can monitor your mower or garden from the app so you can identify when something happens to you bot, and of course GPS is an effective deterrent.
Lastly, if you want ultimate peace of mind make sure you have a policy on the robot mower, either through individual’s insurance policy or home or garden policy.