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Comment by nkurz | Hacker News Reader

From what I can tell, robotic lawnmowers currently more common in Europe than in the US. I don't think I've ever seen one in the US, but in Norway they seemed to be everywhere. Is there a reason for this disparity?

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So common that they are known to be a danger to wildlife (here's an article from US magazine wired that even says they are unknown in the US: https://www.wired.com/story/robot-lawnmowers-are-killing-hed... )

I don't know why they are uncommon here as lawns are just as popular as they are in other countries.

I would guess our lawn sizes are larger on average. You have cities where there are no lawns, suburbs where they would have a use, and a lot of rural areas where the lawns are simply too large. It takes me 2 hours to mow my lawn using a riding lawnmower.

multi acre yards are not uncommon in France, Germany and Australia, for example.

So interesting!

Labor and capital(robotics) are substitutes. Thus in a cheap labor market (USA) anybody that would use a robot instead simply uses human landscapers.

It is quite common in the USA to see humans doing what would be automated work in First world countries.

That was my first thought, although I wasn't sure that would explain the vast numbers of Americans who mow their own lawns. Although maybe it does, if you squint a little harder? If labor prices were higher, maybe more people would choose to do more paid work instead of mowing their own lawn?

I'm not sure though --- I think it might be that Americans tend to have a different relation to their lawns than Europeans. I was surprised to read that mowing your lawn on Sunday is illegal in Norway, with a silent robotic mower being a legal workaround: https://www.newsinenglish.no/2015/07/27/conflicts-arise-over...

The USA is literally the definition of a First World country

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World

I get what you're going for, HN loves to hate on the US.

Maybe they forgot an 'other':

> It is quite common in the USA to see humans doing what would be automated work in other First world countries.

I get what you're going for, HN loves to not give any benefit of doubt.

It takes me 10 minutes to mow my lawn, once a week.

Are these safe enough to justify use?

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