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Roboter oder Mensch?

Home lawn mowing

Lawn service (per visit) vs Wire-free robot mower

Modellschätzungen von Whirrwork, keine Fakten. Methodik · Trefferbilanz

Mensch · Pro Jahr1.505 $Lawn service
Roboter · Pro Jahr1.189 $Buy a robot mower
Amortisation33 Monate
Jahr der KostenwendebereitsBase-case year (earliest to latest across scenarios)

On these numbers the robot option is clearly cheaper. The robot would sit idle most of the time; it pays off at higher volume or longer hours.

Vereinigte Staaten · USD · BLS OEWS May 2025 national medians by SOC occupation

Mit eigenen Zahlen rechnen

Change anything. Results update as you type and stay in your browser; nothing is stored or sent. Works offline after your first visit.

Arbeitsmenge
Annahme

Mows per month in season (weekly).

Annahme

Hours per day the robot may run.

Annahme

Days per month.

Annahme

Mowing months per year; depends on climate.

Personal
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

BLS OEWS May 2025 national median hourly wage, SOC 37-3011.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Wages and salaries were 70.0% of total employer compensation cost for private industry workers in June 2026 (ECEC), so total cost = wage / 0.70.

ilostat.ilo.org

Nominal 4.4% a year, 2015-2025 (ILOSTAT hourly earnings).

Preise
HomeGuide

Average per visit for a 1/8-1/4 acre yard ($30-$85).

Roboter
Annahme

Mows completed per robot-hour for a quarter-acre yard (about 2 hours per full mow).

Mammotion US store

LUBA 3 AWD entry tier; larger tiers up to $3,299.

Zippy Lawnz (installer)

Professional installation up to 1 acre; DIY is $0.

Abgeleitet Smart Lawn NY (installer)

$199 a year (midpoint of $149-$249 care plans) as a share of the entry price.

Annahme

Useful life in years.

Annahme

Share of allowed hours the mower can work (rain, charging).

Annahme

Mows lost to faults or stuck robots.

Annahme

Edging and trimming the robot can't do, as a share of a service visit you still pay for.

Annahme

Your own time is not costed here (you would spend it anyway, or enjoy it).

Annahme

kWh per robot-hour.

Annahme

Electricity price per kWh (USD). Check your bill; energy is rarely a big line.

Finanzen
Annahme

Annual financing / discount rate. Nobody publishes yours; 8% is a round mid-2026 commercial borrowing guess.

Annahme

Years in the NPV comparison.

Annahme

Share of a human service price that is labour (rises with wages). Used to escalate and to adjust US service prices to other countries.

Annahme

Share of a robot service price that is labour (pilot, technician). The rest is equipment, which learning curves make cheaper.

Annahme

Share of a lease or RaaS fee that pays for hardware (learns down). The rest is service and support (moves with wages).

Download these results (CSV)

Ergebnisse

OptionPro MonatPro JahrPer unit (mow)EinmalkostenAmortisationBreak-even utilisation5-year NPV vs baseline
Mensch Lawn service Vergleichsbasis 125 $1.505 $50,00 $— — — —
Roboter Buy a robot mower 99,12 $1.189 $39,52 $2.898 $ 33 Monate 2 %
Utilisation 3 %
 1.638 $

What moves the answer most

Each bar shows the 5-year NPV of the best robot option when one input moves to the low or high end of its range, with the rest held at your values.

5-year NPV vs baseline: Buy a robot mower5-year NPV vs baseline: Buy a robot mowerLawn servicelow value: 30 → -504 $high value: 85 → 5.387 $Active months per yearlow value: 4 → -657 $high value: 10 → 3.933 $Robot purchase pricelow value: 1500 → 2.844 $high value: 3299 → 431 $Work that stays humanlow value: 0 → 2.583 $high value: 0.35 → 378 $Useful life or contractlow value: 3 → 286 $high value: 8 → 2.242 $Maintenance per yearlow value: 0.04 → 2.062 $high value: 0.15 → 977 $Integration and setuplow value: 0 → 2.137 $high value: 799 → 1.338 $Financing and discount ratelow value: 0.05 → 1.985 $high value: 0.12 → 1.227 $Work lost to failureslow value: 0 → 1.804 $high value: 0.1 → 1.251 $1.638 $0low valuehigh valueSource: Whirrwork Robot-or-Human model v1.0.0 (whirrwork.com/tools/robot-vs-human/lawn-mowing/). Modelled estimate, not a fact.

Cost per unit to 2035

Real terms (today's money). Robot hardware follows Wright's law; wages follow each country's history. Shaded band: robots-slow to robots-fast scenarios. Modellschätzungen von Whirrwork, keine Fakten.

ChartPersonalkosten pro Einheit (Basis), Roboterkosten pro Einheit (Basis), Roboterkosten pro Einheit (Roboter: schneller Fortschritt), Roboterkosten pro Einheit (Roboter: langsamer Fortschritt). Source: Whirrwork Robot-or-Human model v1.0.0 (whirrwork.com/tools/robot-vs-human/lawn-mowing/). Modelled estimate, not a fact.0,00 $20,00 $40,00 $2026202720282029203020312032203320342035USD / mowscenario rangePersonalkosten pro Einheit (Basis)Roboterkosten pro Einheit (Basis)Roboterkosten pro Einheit (Robote…Roboterkosten pro Einheit (Robote…Source: Whirrwork Robot-or-Human model v1.0.0 (whirrwork.com/tools/robot-vs-human/lawn-mowing/). Modelled estimate, not…

Jahr der Kostenwende: bereits

What the spreadsheet misses

Sicherheit
Blades plus children, pets and hedgehogs: pick a model with lift sensors and do not run it at night.
Qualität
Frequent small cuts look tidy; edges still need trimming.
Flexibilität
A service also blows, edges and spots problems.
Edge cases
Steep slopes, many separate patches and poor GPS/RTK signal break wire-free mowers.
Customer experience
You are the customer: no scheduling, no noise from big engines.
Jobs and redeployment
Small landscaping businesses lose the weekly mow but keep higher-skill work.
Regulierung
Mostly none; some towns restrict night-time running.

Siehe auch

Quellen auf dieser Seite

Hinweise und Quellen sind auf Englisch; maßgeblich ist die englische Fassung.

  1. Lawn mowing cost: $30-$85 per visit for a 1/8 to 1/4 acre yard, about $50 on average HomeGuide, 2026
  2. Mammotion LUBA 3 AWD robot mower: $2,399-$3,299 by coverage tier Mammotion US store, 2026-10 · vendor
  3. Robotic mower installation: up to 1 acre $499, over 1 acre $799 Zippy Lawnz (installer), 2026-10 · vendor
  4. Annual robotic mower care plans $149-$249 Smart Lawn NY (installer), 2026-10 · vendor
  5. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (median hourly wage by occupation) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025-05
  6. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026: wages and salaries 70.0% of private-industry compensation (series CMU2020000000000P) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026-06
  7. Mean nominal hourly earnings of employees by sex and occupation (ISCO-08), DF_EAR_EHRA_SEX_OCU_CUR_NB ILOSTAT (International Labour Organization), from national labour force and earnings surveys, 2025
  8. Labour cost levels by NACE Rev. 2 activity (lc_lci_lev): Germany 2022-2025, total labour cost vs wages and salaries per hour Eurostat, 2025
  9. Rates and thresholds for employers 2025 to 2026 (employer Class 1 NIC 15% above £5,000) HM Revenue & Customs, 2025-04-06
  10. 令和6年賃金構造基本統計調査 (Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2024), table 1 by occupation Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan (via e-Stat), 2024-06
  11. Average monthly earnings of employees by sex and economic activity, DF_EAR_EMTA_SEX_ECO_CUR_NB ILOSTAT (International Labour Organization), 2022
  12. Average annual wage of employed persons in urban units in 2024 (by position and by region) National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2025-05-20
  13. Euro foreign exchange reference rates (cross rates to USD), via Frankfurter European Central Bank, 2026-10-23
  14. Wright, T. P. (1936). Factors affecting the cost of airplanes. Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, 3(4), 122-128 Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, 1936
  15. Nagy, B., Farmer, J. D., Bui, Q. M., & Trancik, J. E. (2013). Statistical basis for predicting technological progress. PLoS ONE, 8(2), e52669 (62 technologies; Wright's law among the best hindcasters; errors grow with horizon) PLoS ONE, 2013