The Award Wining Technology and Design Behind STIGA’s Autonomous Lawnmower

STIGA robotic lawnmower with an accompanying graphic showing 'red dot winner 2023'

At Lamb Industries we’re delighted to announce that STIGA’s innovative autonomous robot lawnmower, for which we did the industrial design, has recently won the 2023 Red Dot Design Award. The STIG-A1500 robot lawnmower is now on the market for consumers. STIGA’s autonomous robot lawn mowers navigate without needing a wire. The new STIGA autonomous robot mower works by collecting information from satellite signals, both GPS and all other GNSS systems, to know their positions and navigate around the garden.

Many robot lawnmowers navigate the mowing area of the garden within a boundary defined by buried wires. For improved convenience and accuracy the ‘STIG- A’ robot lawnmower line uses patented Active Guidance Technology (AGS) to create an entirely self-reliant device. Installation as well as perimeter setting that can be fully managed with the smartphone app. This means, every time something changes in the garden, the perimeter can be easily modified by the user in minutes.

Two images side by side, one of STIGA's robotic lawnmower going around a garden, another bird's eye view of a garden mapped out

STIGA takes this autonomy one step further. By learning satellite positions and blind spots in the garden throughout the day, the robot can maintain an unbroken link and therefore always successfully complete its mowing cycle. The robot mower is designed to finish its cutting cycle during daylight hours to avoid disturbing nocturnal wildlife. Mowing is precise and efficient throughout the garden, avoiding repeatedly cutting areas (over-mowing) and damaging the health of the lawn. Its blade’s razor sharpness, high speed and material choice also ensure the grass is cut cleanly, letting it seal and re-grow naturally. The lawn mower can even cut in programmed line patterns, to create those Wimbledon style stripes. All of this can be controlled and monitored via the app.

While the technology is impressive it needs cutting edge Industrial Design to communicate the benefits to consumers. Lamb Industries were commissioned to create a compelling design that is easy to operate, maintain and clean and that reflects the robot’s technical innovation. Building on the Industrial Design guidelines that we created for STIGA, the STIG-A 1500 expresses the joy of gardening and their ethos of working in harmony with nature, rather than trying to dominate it.

Two different models of the STIGA robot lawnmower side by side

The lawn robots come in two sizes, depending on the area to be maintained

We started with a different approach to garden tool design. The appearance is deliberately simple (a key Stiga value) and elegant, this is a product that lives in the garden, not on the battlefield. A complex packaging exercise is made to look straightforward, in the same way that the complex technology serves the purpose of making gardening maintenance less complicated. The form is flowing, with beautiful textures, gentle curves, and restrained details. It has a subtly organic form, while maintaining tension in the edge treatment. The design is purposeful and directional, reflecting its role as a serious tool and a desirable object. The use of colour and form directs the user to interaction points and communicates the STIGA brand. Overall, the design is pure and uncomplicated in order to convey both the robot’s intelligent design and a calm presence in the garden.

You can see these new lawn robots on the STIGA website here, or you can read more about our other designs for STIGA here.

Various sketches of the design of the robot lawnmower