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 Zeit

See Full Page