Front and back yards: separate areas, gates and narrow passages

Two lawns, one mower

Most homes have at least two lawn areas, usually split by the house and the driveway. A robot mower handles this one of three ways: it drives between areas along a corridor you define, it is carried, or you buy two. Corridors need a passage wide enough for the mower plus its positioning error: about 24 inches for a small wire mower, 30 to 36 inches for a large RTK model that also has to keep a margin from the fence.

Gates

A closed gate is a wall. Owners fit a mower-sized flap, leave the gate open on mowing days, or keep the mower in the back and carry it out front. A gate on a slope, or one with a sill or step, is also a stop even when open. The advisor asks for your narrowest passage because imagery cannot see a gate reliably; measure it, including any posts.

Plan the route before you buy

Walk the path the mower would take from its charging station to every lawn area and note each pinch point: the gap between the house and the fence, the gate, the step down from the patio, the strip beside the air-conditioning unit. The narrowest of those is the number that decides which mowers are in play, and it is usually far narrower than the lawn itself suggests. Owners who skip this step are the ones who end up carrying the mower, which works, but stops being fun by June.

If the front lawn is small, consider leaving it to a string trimmer or a push mower and letting the robot own the back, where the area and the time saved are largest. The advisor scores each area on its own when you tell it the lawn is split, so you can see whether a mower is worth it for the front at all.

Driveways and paths

Mowers cross flat paved surfaces without complaint if the edge is flush. A curb or a step of more than about an inch stops most models. Wire mowers cross on a guide wire; RTK and vision mowers cross a mapped corridor, and vision models sometimes hesitate at a change in surface texture.