Los Angeles woman tries out robot lawnmowers to see if they're worth the investment or not

Los Angeles creator Shelby Church tested a futuristic backyard gadget that promised to take one of the most tedious household chores completely off her hands.

In the video, she put a next-generation robotic mower through a real backyard test to see if it could actually deliver on usefulness.

Instead of traditional petrol power or buried boundary wires, it relied on LiDAR navigation and app control to map and maintain the lawn automatically.

The big question was whether this level of automation was finally good enough to justify the investment.

How easy is the robot lawnmower to use?

The garden tech test was all about a LiDAR-equipped robotic mower that immediately proved far easier to set up than older models.

Instead of laying perimeter wires or dealing with complex installations, the MOVA lawnmower connected through WiFi and Bluetooth and used smart mapping to understand the yard.

YouTuber Shelby Church manually drove the mower around the garden using the app to create an initial map in just a few minutes before the system refined everything automatically.

It was like having a lawnmower’s-eye view.

Once finished, the mower could return to its charging dock on its own and manage multiple zones without extra effort.

Right away, Shelby highlighted how outdated older systems felt, saying they required users to ‘lay down all these wires, put up an antenna, be precise’.

She also emphasized how quick the new setup was, noting it ‘took about five minutes’ to get the initial map done.

During the mapping stage, she even admitted it was unexpectedly fun, describing it as something that ‘feels sort of like a toy’.

Once mowing began, she pointed out ‘it is so much quieter’ than a normal lawn mower, especially compared to loud petrol machines.

The mower followed a clean back-and-forth cutting pattern that left neat striped lines across the grass while staying almost silent in operation.

Are they worth the investment?

This particular mower cut at adjustable heights, ran scheduled mowing sessions, and even handled edge trimming that reduced the need for extra tools.

The app gave full control over zones, lawnmowers, and restricted areas, while built-in safety systems detected hundreds of obstacles automatically, and it even had security features like PIN protection and anti-theft tracking.

Shelby also pointed out how precise it could be along borders, noting it could get ‘really close to the edge’ for a cleaner finish without manual trimming.

Overall, while it did not fully replace occasional touch-ups, the helpfulness of the little robot stood out as the biggest win, because once you set it up, it maintained the lawn with very little input.