# Monitoring Autonomous Mowers Operative Parameters on Low-Maintenance Warm-Season Turfgrass
## 4 Discussion
### Autonomous Mowers Activity Effects on Turfgrass Quality Parameters  
Researchers, greenkeepers, and industry experts all have a growing interest in how moving techniques affect turf physiology and its connected quality. According to [PERSON] [21], a challenging topic might be how fluctuations in turf height and the linked leafarea caused by frequent and intense moving may positively affect the light extinction coefficient and contribute to obtaining a higher turf quality. The key roles of lawn areas in residential and urban zones are due to their multifunctional services provided. Besides the aesthetic and recreational roles, environmental benefits are also recognized: turfgrasses have higher potential than other types of vegetation as an ecological buffer for reducing runoff, purifying water and air, controlling erosion and fire hazards, improving soil quality, reducing noises, and absorbing radiation [22; 23]. The High trampling level did not require a consistent amount of energy due to the high efficiency of the electric motors of the autonomous mowers and the moving strategy of cutting small leaves clippings with high frequency. For this reason, the efficiency of these machines should be considered in the long term since AMs work every day. The intense and continuous mowing of the robot increases the quality of the turf, and it promotes species that are tolerant to low cutting and high traffic levels and with a short and creeping habitus [17; 24]. Indeed, autonomous mowers may be a sustainable choice to obtain environmentally adapted, traffic-resistant, and highly sustainable turfgrass management. These findings demonstrate how, particularly for randomly operated autonomous mowers, the proper cutting time choices may be essential to consistently save energy over an extended period. Indeed, it is well known that random operating autonomous mowers require more work to manage a given area, due to the frequent overlapping, compared to autonomous mowers' working following systematic trajectories. The qualitative results of this trial showed an acceptable overall quality rate for a Mediterranean residential turf. These results highlighted how non-professional turf quality may be increased by continuous moving activity. The AM 535 AWD four-wheel drive model, which lacked pivoting wheels, had higher mean quality values, with all quality measures showing a similar trend. The AM 535 AWD's four active wheels prevented these parts from being dragged on the ground (as happened with the 450X model), reducing stress on the turf within small areas. The literature presents contrasting opinions about the mowing frequency and turf quality relation. The typical trend of quality parameters declines with the reduction of leaf tissue caused by repeated and protracted mowing [17]. According to [PERSON] et al. [25], reductions in turf quality are correlated with a lower vegetation index due to the reduced photosynthetic rate. The color and quality trends in this study are also in line with the NDVI trend, which showed lower values in correlation with increased trampling levels. [PERSON] et al. [26] have emphasized the efficiency of vegetation indices in detecting turfgrass performance under various growing conditions. Building upon their findings, it would be beneficial to conduct extended studies that investigate additional vegetation indices, such as the green area (GA), and assess their correlation with soil moisture content after prolonged trampling activity by AMs. By examining these factors over a longer trial period, we can gain deeper insights into the impact of AM operations on turfgrass health and water availability in the soil. Compared to turfgrasses moved with rotary mowers once a week, continuous mowing helps to maintain a high degree of photosynthesis and carbohydrate generation for new tissue growth and higher quality. According to [PERSON] et al. [17] and [PERSON] and [PERSON] [27], a robot mower that works many times a week removes only a small amount of leaf tissue at a time.