Robotic mowers: the EGMF evaluation standard

The EGMF, the European Garden Machinery industry Federation, has come up with a standard for the evaluation of robotic lawnmowers, RLM004-1.0/2016. On April 11th, EGMF published a technical document which establishes reference parameters for defining the performance characteristics and comparative trials for robotic mowers.

The purpose of the EGMF task force was to create a protocol and provide a reliable instrument for all test laboratories, consumer associations and any organization interested in evaluating the perfomance of these mowers. Karsten Biber, the EGMF president, declared, “The publication of this standard is a milestone for the garden equipment industry. We have set a clear point of reference for comparing and evaluating the robotic lawnmowers on a market for this innovative equipment which is steadily growing.”

All the procedures described are mainly intended for comparative testing and, for a determined range of products, call for the same conditions of lawn and weather. The application of this EGMF standard for the end-user is voluntary and can be used by all robotic lawnmower manufacturers.

The robotic mower is an independent unit designed for lawn care in pre-programmed areas. The machine’s function differs from the standard push or rideon mower thanks to its independent operation and semi-continuous mowing of the law cared for with savings of time and no technical problems created. The standard, EGMF said in a communique, does not cover requirements related to safety.

It is possible to download the standard at the following link:

http://www.egmf.org/scripts/tinyMCE/plugins/filemanager/files/EGMF_TF_RM-Performance_standard_ISSUED--PUBLIC-160407.pdf