OcuMow® 18 independently mows the lawn in a random pattern before returning to the base station to charge the battery. The mower will alternately mow and charge for the scheduled working time selected, then return to the base station to wait on standby until the next scheduled mowing period.

The camera detects the difference between surface textures and colours, for example grass or paving, and the ultrasonic sensors detect obstacles higher than 16cm, such as plants, garden furniture, walls and fences, meaning there is no need for a boundary wire.

To keep the mower within the lawn area, it is recommended that your lawn is bordered on all sides by a visually distinctive border. This can be a flat border of paving, gravel or wooden boards, or a raised edge such as border edging, walls or fences. The mower can detect some edges that are less distinctive, however making your borders clearly defined will improve the ability for the mower to detect the edges and reduce the possibility of the mower leaving the lawn. For undefined edges such as flower borders, No Go magnetic strip can be installed. This is detected by sensors on board the mower and creates a barrier that the mower will not cross.

As this robot mower can self-charge, it is recommended to set the mower to operate frequently. Frequent mowing sessions mean the grass is cut little and often, making any difference between cut and uncut grass difficult to detect.

If OcuMow® 18 cannot recognise a clearly defined lawn edge, it may not stay within the lawn area. Bare earth borders which can become weedy, or flower borders with low plants can be interpreted as grass by the Optical Grass Recognition (OGR) software. For this reason, we recommend that raised edges, a visually distinctive border of paving or gravel, walls and fences, or No Go strip are the best options to help the mower recognise the edges of the lawn.

Driveways, paths and stepping stones are all detected by the mower as borders it cannot cross. The Drop and Mow setting means the mower can be used on unconnected lawns (for example, front lawns or lawns at other properties). The mower will work until the battery needs recharging and wait on the lawn to be picked up and returned to the base station.

The mower can independently navigate to lawns connected with a grass corridor at least 1.2m wide. If the grass corridor is narrower than 1.2m or the lawn is completely separated by a wall, gravel, pathway or asphalt, the mower must be picked up and moved to the other lawn. The mower will need to be operated in Drop and Mow mode on this separate lawn.

Our OcuMow® 18 requires minimal installation. Find a suitable area for the charging station which should be within 10m of an outdoor power socket. Plug it in, put the mower on the charging station, set the schedule and the mower is ready to go. For advice on finding the best location for the charging station, please refer to the instruction manual above or refer to the video guide on the support section of our website.

For safety, the mower stops approximately 10 - 20cm away from the edge of the lawn, meaning some grass will remain uncut. This can easily be taken care of with a grass trimmer such as our battery compatible LawnMaster MX 24V Grass Trimmer. Lawn edges should be kept neatly trimmed so that the OcuMow® 18 can easily see the edge of the lawn.

The OcuMow® 18 robot mower is supplied with 10m of No-Go strip. This strip, which can be cut into sections and buried under the lawn's surface, can be positioned around your garden to temporarily or permanently cordon off sections of your garden that you do not want OcuMow® 18 to go, such as recently re-seeded patches of grass, steep slopes, ponds or rewilded areas of your garden. The mower detects the strip using on-board sensors and navigates away.

Because OcuMow® 18 can be scheduled to work for as little as one hour, once a week, it can be used even on very small lawns. As there is no guide wire necessary to help the mower find the base station, there is very little chance of worn patches developing in high traffic areas.

The mower has an on-board GPS sensor which the mower uses to get close to the base station. Once the mower is close to the station, it uses the camera to navigate back on to the dock.

As OcuMow® 18 requires good light in order for the camera to function, this mower can only be used in the daytime. The robot will not operate outside daylight hours.

The grass is cut using three small sharp blades and the clippings are returned to the lawn surface where the nutrients contained in them fertilise the soil. This means stronger, healthier grass with less need for supplemental fertiliser and has the added bonus of helping the lawn retain water in dry periods. It also means no grass clippings to dispose of or compost. Provided that the OcuMow® 18 is used regularly (i.e., once or twice a week) the clippings are not visible to the eye.

It is possible to use OcuMow® 18 on lawns with a pond, however it is strongly recommended that the pond is surrounded by a raised barrier to safeguard against the mower falling in. Pond vegetation could be mistaken for grass by the mower. We recommend either a raised edge or a paved/gravel border at least 75cm wide surrounding the pond. No Go magnetic strip can also be used at least 70cm away from the pond edge for additional security. Water damaged mowers are not covered under guarantee.

OcuMow® 18 has an optional PIN feature which can be set to prevent children starting the mower unsupervised. Safety sensors stop the blades if the mower is lifted or flips over. The mower is also equipped with ultrasonic sensors which will avoid obstacles higher than 16cm. We recommend that children and pets are not left unsupervised with the mower while it is operating.