Are perimeter wires still needed?

In most cases the answer to this is no. Brands such as Segway and Mammotion have changed the game by incorporating cameras into their RTK offerings. This complementing technology makes wire-free robots more conducive to UK lawns and gardens, dealing with tree cover (unless in extremely large blocks).

RTK robots rely on satellite signals, radio transmission as well as WiFi and/or 4G.

As such, to avoid needing a perimeter wire based robot mower, you must first establish:

a. That you can mount the antenna in a position where it has full sight of the sky. Either from the pole (included with most products) or via a wall-mounted bracket (usually optional).

b. That the antenna is within range to the extremities of the lawn. This extremities are quoted and product specific, but will be reduce where expected to travel through buildings of plants/trees.

c. Generally the base-station requires a reliable WiFi connection. We advise always combining this with a 4G module within the robot, for the most reliable performance – where a 4G signal would be required within the cutting area(s).

d. Trees do pose an issue to RTK robots, with most failing without advanced camera systems. The Mammotion Luba 2 and Segway i-Series and X-Series (H-Series with Optional camera add-on) are robots which can operate under tree cover. They still have limitations, in that huge swathes of dense tree cover will still pose an issue. We’ve enough experience now to say that the odd tree or cluster of a few trees, generally pose little issue to these robot platforms.

Perimeter wire robots fill in where RTK cannot operate, however the use case has gone from close to 100% two years ago, to edging ever-closer to 0% in 2025. It remains a no brainer than perimeter wire be the last choice – they are more expensive, feature dated tech and are more prone to non-remote assistance issues (wire-breaks etc).