I tried out a robot lawn mower. It didn’t go as planned

The author tested the Husqvarna Automower 410X, a GPS-guided robot lawn mower, after finding a traditional reel mower too time-consuming for their half-acre yard. Husqvarna, a Swedish company with three decades of experience in robotic mowers, provided the unit for review. The Automower 410X is electric, offering a quieter and less polluting alternative to gasoline mowers, which can emit as much smog-forming pollution in one hour as driving a car for 300 miles. It also consumes less energy than electric push mowers. However, the setup process for the $2,599 mower proved challenging. Unlike indoor robot vacuums, outdoor robot mowers require manual mapping of the operational area, especially without walls to contain them. The author struggled to find a suitable location for the GPS antenna in their tree-filled yard, encountering issues with mounting and compatibility, which delayed the mower's deployment.