Not an isolated case

More and more children are being injured by robotic lawnmowers

Pediatric and adolescent surgeons at Klagenfurt Hospital have recently issued a warning about the underestimated danger posed by robotic mowers. More and more children are being seriously injured by these garden tools - like an eleven-month-old boy recently.

On average, two to three small children have to be treated at the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Surgery at Klagenfurt Hospital every year with serious injuries, sometimes even amputations, following accidents involving robotic lawnmowers - as was the case recently with an eleven-month-old boy.

"Massive injury to the foot"
"He was admitted to our department at the weekend. The child was crawling in the garden when he was hit by the robotic lawnmower and suffered a massive injury to his foot," reports department head Prim. Johannes Schalamon. The boy had to be operated on by an interdisciplinary team for two hours. "However, follow-up operations are also necessary," says Schalamon.

Parents are not aware of the risk
As gardening tools are becoming increasingly popular, doctors expect the number of cases of injured children to rise. "Especially as parents are often unaware of the risk. The robots do not always react to obstacles - which is why children of crawling age are repeatedly injured. But pets such as dogs also suffer serious injuries to their paws," says senior physician Christoph Arneitz, who therefore urgently appeals to parents to be vigilant.