There is indeed absolutely no reason to do this - and I'm personally anti-lawn (I prefer a nice naturally overgrown green space outside my home). But even I can get on the "this is awesome" train.

> Now I want to look at a new robomower!

Me too. And then I saw the price (of the higher end Husqvarna at least). Ha! Nevermind.

The reason is marketing

If they are automated, how would you know?

See also: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/405783/why-does-man...

Also, Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity and a few others may disagree. (Would Viking 1 and 2 qualify as robots?)

I'll be very concerned if Curiosity finds any mattresses up there to converse with.

I'd put the voyager probes as more lonely. Not to mention any number of defunct spacecraft that are still operating out there. They don't have off switches. Somewhere out there is a space probe periodically trying to phone home only to discover we are no longer listening.

https://www.npr.org/2020/04/24/843493304/long-lost-u-s-milit...

""The oldest one I've seen is Transit 5B-5. And it launched in 1965," he says, referring to a nuclear-powered U.S. Navy navigation satellite that still circles the Earth in a polar orbit, long forgotten by all but a few amateurs interested in hearing it "sing" as it passes overhead."

Yeah, mars is getting pretty crowded at this point! I guess the voyager probes might be lonelier, if you count them as robots.

At least as lonely as WALL-E...

No, because a robot cannot feel loneliness yet.

That is so sad :(