Following on from my experience last week at the Garden Press Event where robotic mowers were undeniably in the spotlight, comes the news this week that the Garden Trader website has added a new robot category to their offering.

The owners of the site say this change is simply due to consumer demand. "Looking at site visitor data," said site owner Duncan Murray-Clarke who also owns Service Dealer, "many searches were for robotic products as opposed to generic mowers and so it made complete sense to separate these products out."

So is something significant happening out there in the market place this year? Is it the year of the robot? Or is it a passing trend and wishful-thinking on behalf of the manufacturers?

We're running a survey today where we'd like to hear your thoughts on the subject. We have a feature about robotic mowers coming up in the next edition of Service Dealer magazine in which it would be great to reflect the views of as many of our readers as possible.

As part of the feature we have an interview with the operations director of Husqvarna's Newton Aycliff manufacturing plant, Caraline Robinson, who's in charge of the main production base worldwide of the company's Automowers. They are flat out making the robots at the moment, stockpiling the machines ahead of the dreaded B-word. The statistic I was told was that a completed unit is rolling off the production line every 69 seconds.

The demand for their machines clearly exists, however this has traditionally been mostly focussed in certain European countries, not so much in the UK. This is illustrated by the fact that 95% of the robots they produce in Aycliff are destined for export. However, the company believe this is changing.

Caraline told us, "We have seen very strong growth from the UK over the last three to four years, and that continues at pace. The Husqvarna UK team have been extremely proactive in promoting the products, raising awareness with end consumers and this has been supported by an ever increasing number of Husqvarna dealers. The growth rate we are seeing in the UK is exceeding that of other European markets, so naturally we expect the percentage figure of Automower sold in the UK to continue to grow exponentially."

Are you seeing evidence of this change in your dealership? We're interested to know today if customers are coming into your stores specifically to enquire about robotic mowing solutions. Or indeed to know if you are recommending the products to customers who may not have considered such a purchase?

I've spoken to dealers who are concentrating on the products who are telling me that there's good business to be had from the machines. The sales, installation and servicing they are offering is proving profitable. I've even heard from some who are saying they are struggling to keep up with demand in fact, such is the rapid increase in popularity amongst their customers.

This interest in the machines is not just limited to domestic consumers either, commercial users are now also being targeted by the manufacturers. There's another example today of a big player making further moves into the sector with the story of Royal Reesink forming a partnership to create a new company to develop the technology for automated steering of professional Toro mowers.

Equally though, I've visited dealerships around the country where I've been told that robot mowers are just not for customers around those parts. Dealers have tried but simply not found success with them locally.

We're interested to hear today if some of our readers believe that this is genuinely the case? Are there areas where the automated machines will not find a market?

It would be great to hear from as many of our readers as possible. Our survey has a few quick questions and a space for you leave your thoughts on the current state of the robotic mowing market.

We'll be publishing the results and a selection of your opinions in the next issue of Service Dealer magazine. Thanks for your help.

TAKE THE SURVEY