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I was curious and was looking at these on the internet the other day just to get an idea of how much they are. THEY ARE EXPENSIVE!!!!!! I think around $2000 is the cheapest one I could find and that was without the rest of the stuff like the boundry you need for the thing. Geez!

My husband and I were discussing this today. They look so cool, but until they are more mainstream they are way out of my price range for a mower.

Someone somewhere else on the forums said that if you watch auctions, close outs and liquidations you can get them for as little as $800. I saw the $2000 price tag and it came up in another thread about building your own.

How hard would it be to build your own, they seem a bit extreme. I am sure they are over my husband's building degrees. He is a novice at best, they would be further for an expert.

I think it might be hard to build a successful or pretty one, but I think it would be a heck of a challenge and a lot of fun to try!!

I think that would depend on if you were trying to make an autonomous one, or a remote controlled one.

Autonomous would require some type of computer and mapping software that interfaced with some kind of sensors to report its position and objects in its way. Very complicated.

Remote controlled would just be a matter of picking up a self propelled mower, replacing the front wheels with pivoting wheels attached to some kind of solenoid to steer it, some type of solenoid for engaging the self propelling mechanism, and a remote sender and receiver. This could be very doable with some tinkering.

If they are anything like those vacuum bots, they will have quite a few years before they mature enough to really be useful. I've tried those vacuum bots in the past and they do an "ok" job, but the battery life on them is terrible. The constant recharging wears out those battery packs fast.

I think that's why I am drawn to the robotic mowers with a solar panel. It gives less wear on the battery. But its not in my reach at all financially.

The idea of these kind of scare me. Maybe its too many 80's robots taking over the world movies, but why I would want a robot to do what I can do perfectly fine myself is beyond me.