Lawn and floors on a schedule

A robotic mower does not cut once a week but every other day, for a few hours. The clippings stay on the lawn and break down, so there is no raking or carting away. Models for larger plots run a hundred and forty-five to two hundred minutes per charge and cover up to five thousand square metres in a cycle.

Preparing the garden

Before the first run, clear stones, hoses and toys, level the holes and decide how the boundary is set: a wire in the ground or satellite guidance without wire. Most models will not drive a slope steeper than thirty-five per cent. The dock needs level ground, power nearby and a spot in the shade.

Indoors

A household vacuuming and mopping robot needs cables, thin rugs and small objects lifted off the floor. A dock that empties the bin and washes the pads takes about half a metre of wall and is best placed near water and a drain. Thresholds higher than two centimetres split a flat into separate zones.

Maintenance is a few minutes a week: changing the mower blades every few months, washing the filter and brush on the vacuum, wiping the sensors. Over winter the mower goes into a dry room, with the battery charged to roughly half rather than left empty.