Quick Answer: There is no robotic reel mower you can buy new for a home lawn in 2026. The only consumer model, the Oasa R1 ($1,199 on Kickstarter in June 2024, about $2.3 million raised), stopped when founder Li Chang announced on May 13, 2025 that the company had run out of money, according to 36Kr via KrASIA. Reel robots do exist on golf courses: FireFlyâs AMP-L100 cuts a 100-inch fairway swath with five reels, and TurfNet put its price at $160,000. For a home lawn, a rotary robot mower that cuts down to 0.75 to 0.8 inch covers almost every grass type. Only hybrid bermuda or fine zoysia kept at or below 1 inch still needs a conventional reel mower.
A reel mower cuts grass the way scissors do: a spinning cylinder of blades pushes each grass blade against a fixed bedknife and shears it off. Golf courses use reels on greens and fairways because they leave a cleaner tip at very low heights than a rotary blade, which cuts by impact. Homeowners with fine bermuda or zoysia lawns often want the same finish, and ârobotic reel mowerâ is a common search. Here is what actually exists, what happened to the one consumer product, and what to do instead. This guide is based on manufacturer specs, trade-press reporting and university extension data; we did not run our own tests.
Robotic reel mowers in 2026: what exists
| Product | Type | Cutting system | Price | Status (Nov 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oasa R1 | Consumer, wire-free | Reel with automatic blade sharpening | From $1,199 (Kickstarter, June 2024) | Company shut down May 2025 |
| FireFly AMP-L100 | Golf fairways, turf farms | Five reel cutting units, 100-in swath | $160,000 (TurfNet, Feb 2025) | Sold to golf courses |
| Turflynx F315 (now Toro) | Golf fairways | Electric triplex reel, 61- or 74-in deck | Not published | Developer acquired by Toro |
| Every current home robot mower | Consumer | Rotary disc with pivoting razor blades or a solid blade | About $600 to $5,000 | On sale |
The pattern is clear: reel robots are a golf-course product, and the home market is entirely rotary. We found no new consumer robotic reel mower announced by a major brand as of November 2026.
What happened to the Oasa R1
The Oasa R1 was billed by its maker as âthe worldâs first consumer-grade robotic reel mower,â per Hackster.ioâs launch coverage. It launched on Kickstarter in June 2024 at $1,199 for Super Early Bird backers, which Oasa described as $400 off its planned retail price. Delivery was planned for December 2024.
Oasa R1 specs as announced
| Spec | Oasa R1 (manufacturer claims) |
|---|---|
| Cutting system | Reel (cylinder) with automatic sharpening |
| Cutting height | 20 to 101 mm (0.8 to 4 in), per Notebookcheck |
| Navigation | LiDAR, cameras and IMU; no boundary wire, no RTK station |
| Coverage | 500 m² per hour; 1,500 m² working area (Notebookcheck) |
| Runtime / charge | About 2 hours mowing, 4-hour charge (Hackster.io) |
| Battery | 165 Wh |
| Weight | 22.5 kg (about 50 lb) |
| Noise | Up to 60 dB |
| Connectivity | Dual-band Wi-Fi and LoRa; HomeKit, Alexa, Google Home |
Why it failed
36Krâs May 2025 report, republished in English by KrASIA, gives the clearest account:
- Money ran out. Oasa had raised about RMB 100 million (about $14 million) in angel funding before the Kickstarter. Li Changâs open letter cited team restructuring, manufacturing setbacks and capital constraints.
- Few units shipped. A person familiar with the matter told 36Kr that only a small batch was delivered. Backers reported they could not reach the company after an April 27, 2025 software update, and Oasaâs Amazon store links stopped working after May 10, 2025.
- Reels are expensive. A veteran mower engineer quoted by 36Kr said one set of R1 reel blades cost more than RMB 1,000 (about $140), and that reel systems cost two to three times as much as a rotary setup. The automatic sharpener added sensors, small actuators and calibration on top.
- Small yards only. 36Kr put the R1âs practical range at 500 m² (about 5,400 sq ft), with a theoretical maximum of 1,000 m². That is much less than the half-acre to multi-acre lawns many US buyers have.
- Navigation doubts. One insider told 36Kr the R1 used single-line LiDAR, a type common in robot vacuums, and that âduring testing it didnât work well under sunlight.â
Because Oasa no longer operates, a used R1 has no firmware updates, no app support, no warranty and no source of replacement reels. Treat it as a curiosity, not a mower to depend on.
Reel robots on golf courses
The reel robot that works today is a commercial machine. FireFly Robotics, which renamed itself from FireFly Automatix in June 2026 according to TurfNet, builds the AMP-L100. Per a March 31, 2026 Concert Golf Partners announcement, the AMP-L100:
- cuts a 100-inch swath with five reel cutting units;
- mows at 6 mph and covers up to 25 acres per charge;
- navigates with lasers, cameras, sensors and RTK GPS to centimeter-level accuracy, and drives itself between fairways on connected paths.
TurfNet reported in February 2025 that the AMP-L100 cost $160,000, with a lead time of about 60 days. Four AMP mowers groomed the fairways at the PGA Tourâs Black Desert Championship in Utah in October 2024. Toro has also bought Turflynx, a Portuguese startup whose F315 was an autonomous, battery-powered triplex reel mower with a 61- or 74-inch deck.
These machines are not home products. If you manage a large property, our commercial robot lawn mower guide and the Husqvarna CEORA review cover the rotary robots built for sports fields and campuses.
Does your lawn actually need a reel?
Probably not. The deciding number is your grass typeâs recommended mowing height. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension publishes this table:
| Grass | Mowing height range | Optimal height | Rotary robot mower OK? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hybrid bermudagrass | 0.75 to 2 in | 1 in | Only at the top of the range |
| Zoysia matrella (fine-bladed) | 0.75 to 2.5 in | 1 in | Only at the top of the range |
| Common bermudagrass | 1 to 3 in | 1.5 in | Yes |
| Zoysia japonica (coarse-bladed) | 1 to 2.5 in | 1.5 in | Yes |
| Centipedegrass | 1.5 to 2.5 in | 2 in | Yes |
| Kentucky bluegrass | 1.5 to 3 in | 2 in | Yes |
| Tall fescue | 2 to 4 in | 2.5 in | Yes |
| St. Augustinegrass | 2.5 to 4 in | 2.5 in | Yes |
| Buffalograss | 2 to 4 in | 2.5 in | Yes |
The same Texas A&M fact sheet warns that âmany of the varieties available today require mowing height at or below one inch, which cannot be done effectively with a rotary mower.â That is the only situation where a reel is the right tool. If your lawn is fescue, bluegrass, St. Augustine, centipede or common bermuda, a rotary robot mower is a good fit. Our St. Augustine guide covers the tall-cut end of the range.
The lowest-cutting robot mowers
If you want a robot and keep a short warm-season lawn, choose a model with a low minimum height. The figures below are manufacturer specs:
| Robot mower | Cutting height range | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Segway Navimow X430 | 0.75 to 4 in | Sold out on navimow.com in late 2026 |
| Segway Navimow H2 (H210/H220) | 2 to 4 in; 0.8 to 2.8 in with low-cut kit | Low-cut kit per the H2 user manual |
| Robomow (current lineup) | 0.8 to 3.4 in | Boundary wire |
| Makita RM350D | 0.8 to 2.4 in (20 to 60 mm) | Boundary wire, 5 mm steps |
| Husqvarna Automower iQ series | 1 to 4 in | EPOS reference station included |
Robot mowers make up for the missing reel in two ways. They use small pivoting razor blades, which are cheap to replace and stay sharp if you swap them on schedule (see our robot mower blades guide). They also mow little and often, so each pass removes only a few millimetres of grass instead of a third of the blade. For setup, our robot mower cutting height guide covers ranges by brand and how to step a lawn down gradually.
What to do if you need a sub-1-inch cut
- Keep a conventional reel mower for the low-cut lawn. Manual push reels and powered reel mowers are still the tool extension services recommend at or below 1 inch.
- Raise the height and switch to a robot. Many hybrid bermuda and zoysia lawns stay healthy at 1 to 1.5 inches. A robot with a 0.75 to 0.8 inch minimum and a frequent schedule can keep them tidy, though the finish will not match a golf-green reel cut.
- Level the lawn first. Texas A&M notes that a lawn must be smooth enough to mow low without scalping. That applies to robots too, because a robot mowing at 0.8 inch will scalp every bump.
- Leave the clippings. Robot mowers mulch by design; our guide to robot mowers and grass clippings explains why that helps the lawn.
Bottom line
âRobotic reel mowerâ describes a product that briefly existed for homeowners and now exists only for golf courses. The Oasa R1 proved the idea could be built, but costly reels, a small working area and weak distribution sank the company in 2025. FireFlyâs $160,000 AMP-L100 shows where reel robots make financial sense today: fairways mowed by the acre. For a home lawn, choose a rotary robot with a low minimum height if your grass is kept at 1 inch or more, and keep a conventional reel mower if it is not.
Sources: KrASIA/36Kr (May 26, 2025), Notebookcheck (June 28, 2024), Hackster.io (June 2024), TurfNet (February 1, 2025 and June 25, 2026), Concert Golf Partners via First Call Golf (March 31, 2026), Texas A&M AgriLife Extension mowing fact sheet, Turf Magazine, manufacturer spec sheets and manuals. Checked November 6, 2026.