Segway's Navimow X4 Doesn't Need An Extra Antenna To Tackle Your Lawn

TechSegway's Navimow X4 Doesn't Need An Extra Antenna To Tackle Your LawnByAnthony Karcz,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about how to do more with your consumer gadgets.Follow AuthorJun 05, 2026, 12:33pm EDTSegway Navimow X4-seriesSegwayIn their earliest deployments, robot lawnmowers were a fun concept that were plagued by a near-terminal flaw (and no, it wasn't the price). Wires. In order to get a robot mower to cut your lawn, you had to install boundary wire around the entire perimeter in which you wanted it to work. The insult to injury would come weeks later when your mower wouldn't start because of a disrupted perimeter signal. After you'd spent an entire weekend burying guide wire, you had to traverse the entire length, trying to find where it was broken.Finally, RTK (real-time kinematic) technology became reliable and cheap enough to deploy to home installations. With that brought a veritable tsunami of autonomous lawn robots who would use the signal from your personal RTK receiver to pinpoint their position on your lawn. Basically, the RTK connects to satellites to establish its position, the mower uses that local fixed point and its own internal positioning sensors to establish where it is on your property. No guide wire needed. A new problem arose, however, and it was how to place the RTK sensor itself. Every mower would come with a pole that would raise the receiver maybe 5ft. off the ground but that was only useful if you were installing the RTK receiver in the middle of an open field with nothing blocking the sky. To get a signal that your mower could actually use, you'd most likely need to affix a mount to your roof or attach the receiver to a 12ft. pole so that it could get a clear-enough chunk of sky. And if you had a property that was covered in trees? You might be out of luck entirely. MORE FOR YOUThere was a third generation of robot mowers that were lit...