A rotary tiller, also known as a rototiller, rotavator, rotary hoe, power tiller, or rotary plough (in US: plow), is a motorised cultivator that works the soil by means of rotating tines or blades. Rotary tillers are either self-propelled or drawn as an attachment behind either a two-wheel tractor or four-wheel tractor. For two-wheel tractors they are rigidly fixed and powered via couplings to the tractors’ transmission. For four-wheel tractors they are attached by means of a three-point hitch and driven by a power take-off (PTO).
In some parts of the world, the term “power tiller” can encompass the larger and similar appearing two-wheeled tractor, a machine which does, however, operate different attachments; in most English-speaking regions this difference is considered more rigid, as the term power tiller (and this article) refers solely to devices with soil cultivation as their primary and often only function.
