Why you should never leave a robot lawn mower unattended

A recent test of robot lawn mowers shows two out of eight would mow straight over a crawling toddlers fingers. — dpa

Do garden owners no longer need to take care of their green spaces with a robotic lawn mower? That’s not entirely true. It’s advisable to keep an eye on the device at all times – above all when children are nearby.

Product testers from the leading consumer association in Germany simulated accident situations using mock feet and fingers.

While all eight lawn mowers tested were able to recognise standing children as an obstacle, two of the robotic lawn mowers did not stop for crawling children, according to the Stiftung Warentest. They rode right over the dummy feet.

That means in the event of such an accident, the mower's sharp blades would easily cause severe injuries to a toddler.

Even if individual models received a score of “good” in categories for mowing and ease of operation, testers gave none of the eight robots an overall ranking higher than “satisfactory” – namely because they deducted a half-point from each robot’s respective overall score over security concerns. — dpa