November 20, 2025 - 8:06 PM
AURICH, Germany (AP) — A robot lawnmower has left an amateur soccer club in northwestern Germany without a playing field after biting off more than it could mow.
The robotic mower, named “Robby” by members of the SG Egels-Poppens club, got stuck in wet ground and dug up the playing surface, local broadcaster NDR reported Friday.
“It has rained a lot lately so it must have gotten stuck and the sensors must have malfunctioned,” board member Alexander Fink told the broadcaster.
It means the club’s teams will be unable to play matches on the field until the spring, when new grass can be sowed or turf laid, Fink said.
SG Egels-Poppens has a second field, but it is also damp and poorly lit. The club has four men’s teams and a host of boys’ and girls’ junior teams.
The local Nordwest Zeitung newspaper first reported the story.
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