By summertime, two robots will be autonomously mowing fields in Bentonville parks. 

The robot lawnmowers use GPS to navigate and can be controlled through a smartphone app.

While the robots handle mowing, their human counterparts will be doing other work like trimming bushes, picking up trash or repairing park facilities. 

“It's not like we leave it and don't come back for five hours to pick it up,” parks and recreation director David Wright said. “We’re still there, we’re still with that piece of equipment, but it's doing work by itself.” 

The two Husqvarna lawnmowers come at a cost of $49,361.56, including accessories and some setup fees. The purchase was approved by Bentonville City Council on Tuesday, March 10.

When the 8th Street Gateway Park opens later this year, the city will have about 500 acres of parks to maintain, so there’s plenty of work for the robot groundskeepers. 

The wide-open areas at Phillips Park and Memorial Park are ideal spots to first deploy the robots, according to parks and recreation staff. Depending on the success of the first two robot lawnmowers, the department may increase the size of the fleet. 

This isn’t the first time a robot has assisted the Parks and Recreation department, which has delegated the striping of sports fields to a robot since 2019. The purchase of a second striping machine for $59,225 was authorized by City Council in January. 

Wright is confident the lawnmowers will be a good purchase, based on the time savings generated by the striping machines. 

“It used to take us two weeks to paint the fields, and now we get it done in two days,” he said. 

Josh Stacey, deputy director of Parks and Recreation, said the department is always looking for ways to work more efficiently as the park system grows.

“There's times we need more people, and there's times we need this technology that helps us do things more effectively,” he said.