With technology constantly progressing, there is, of course, forward momentum in the realm of mowing, as there is in nearly all aspects of life. Mowers have been improved with innovation several times since the first lawn mower was invented.

According to archives kept by the Old Lawnmower Club based in the United Kingdom, Edwin Beard Budding, an engineer from Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, invented the first push lawn mower in 1830. The early machines were all made of cast iron and featured a large rear roller with a cutting cylinder in the front. Cast iron gear wheels transmitted power from the rear roller to the cutting cylinder.

Motorized mowers appeared in the 1890s as lightweight gas engines and small steam power units became available. Although steam mowers were the preferred choice for a few years, by 1900 gas engine mowers were winning in the market.

Innovations that followed include riding mowers, the first of which appeared one the market in the 1920s. Now there are two new ways that mowers have progressed from the past: remote control and robotics.

Robotics
On the other hand, a robotic mower requires no human operator standing by. Think of a Rumba that travels around a home vacuuming and cleaning floors; the same idea applies to these robotic mowers. An operator can plug in certain settings for a plot of turf and leave the mower to perform the mowing by itself without supervision while other work is attended to.

When considering an investment in a robotic mower, there are two main features to consider. These can help in deciding what kind of robotic mower is the best for a certain company or if that company would even benefit from the use of one at all. These aspects are power and programmability.

Power
Most robotic mowers use a rechargeable battery as a power source, with a few others using solar energy to work. The battery lives of these mowers can vary between brands. For instance, some robotic mowers have very short run times yet require over an hour to fully charge while other mowers runs for longer with a shorter time needed to charge. Quite a few robotic mowers are marketed only as personal mowers for homeowners because they are not powerful enough to perform bigger jobs. Depending on the size of the mowing job, one mower might be better for a lawn care company than another.

Programmability
Certain mowers allow operators to set them to automatically run at specific times or on specific days. Stihl's iMow robotic mower models are programmed to sense rain and abstain from mowing during wet weather, but operators can deactivate the rain sensor if mowing in the rain is necessary for a job. Some models require the information to be programmed on the units themselves, while others can be controlled via smartphones using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, like the Husqvarna Automower 450X.

Most robotic mowers have to be programmed to mow a specific area with wire boundaries. Some models are "multi-zone" mowers, which can be set to move between different areas of a lawn or even to take themselves from the front lawn to the back one. Certain robotic mowers can even tend up to four zones on one property if necessary.

Depending on the amount of turf a company handles, remote control or robotic mowers may be helpful in everyday lawn maintenance and projects.