Slashdot Mirror
Internet-enabled Robot to Mow Lawns
prostoalex writes "Researchers at Massey University in New Zealand built a lawnmower operated via the Internet. The device currently needs physical boundaries of the lawn, but later this year it will be able to navigate. Here's the page of Glenn Bright, the researcher quoted in the article, unfortunately, the links to the research group and list of projects appear to be broken."
The MOWBOT!
Now I have even more reason to sit in front of my computer.
of The Lawnmower Man?
21 percent faster with Opera?
Until somebody cracks your computer and goes on a rampage mowing down little children..
"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots." George HW Bush
Just imagine:
42. Easy. What is 32 + 8 + 2?
Why do they need an autonomous grass-cutting machine in NZ? Can't you just tie a sheep to a pole in the center of your yard and have him eat the grass for you?
GMD
watch this
I can't wait to see the virus that makes it mow down all the people in my address book!
Ron Paul
Via the internet?!?
Is that a good idea?
One script kiddie, and you could lose a few toes!
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
is a machine to mow the lawn. For the love of God... it's the only exercise I get!
There are four boxes used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order.
first post? would be cool
Where do you want to mow today?
I like eggs.
... what do you think we have all those sheep for?
(You Aussies are not allowed to answer this question!).
Do you think we have reached the climax of reality in gaming? Well, you were wrong so read on. This article contains cooking intructions for games that mix physical reality, virtual world and interaction using techniques and devices available of-the-shelf.
All this is going to do is contribute to the growing problem of obesity in America. Perhaps the inventor's time would be better spent on less destructive activities? You know, there are a lot of starving children in Africa who would be benefited by much less effort than what went into this device that will lead to many premature deaths through sloth and gluttony.
Can't anybody even remotely associated with Linux these days just be allowed to enjoy the beautiful outdoors? Even Theo DeRaadt can be bothered to go mountain biking every once in a while.
Friends don't let friends use multiple inheritance.
so old in fact there there are commercial products available already that DO navigate on their own.
/. story...
and other than the slashdot 'contect everything to the internet' mentality, WHY do i need my lawnmower hooked up to the internet?
if you say something like 'to get blade spin data and average grass length' or something idiotic like that, well you could just USB enable it, and download the data when you were finished. a 'mowbot' should not be required to be controlled.
another stupid
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
Chalk up another excuse not to mow the lawn. It is currently being DOS'ed...
They've had an autonomous although not terrbily efficient one for sale at the local McGuckins here for a few years.
A robot to mow the lawn? How lazy can you fucking get, no wonder everybody in the US are fat bastards! Now disconnect from the internet, type in su -c "halt", buy a manual mower and mow it properly.
unfortunately, the links to the research group and list of projects appear to be broken.
Yeah, apparently something cut the fiber line to their ISP.
Researchers at Massey University in New Zealand unveiled a new defense against Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. Popuar tech website, Slashdot is a well known attacker to many small sites. The defense employs a technique known as broken links to prevent such attacks. The groups plans to patent the technique and license the technology to several security firms.
Next thing spammers will be sending spam to the Mowbot -- which will reciprocate by mowing the spam message into the lawn. The neighbors will be all over my case for the 6' (obnonus: 2m) letters spelling out porn sites and make money fast scams.
Invalid Checksum. Retrying.
This really isn't a new thing - the sharper image has been selling robot lawn mowers for a few years now. Just say the words "robot" and "internet" in the same sentence, and suddenly it becomes a slashdot article. . .
All my money went to Nigeria and all I got was this lousy sig. . .
Why don't Kiwis use the resources they have?
...surely they'd be even more impressed with this . I mean, geez -- is the mowbot thing really news?
Roving Web-Teleoperated Robot
Now if only I could get an internet operated kitchen sink so that it could wash my dishes while I was away :)
:D
Or perhaps internet-operated borg assassins with built-in wi-fi
Karma: Ran over your dogma.
It is operated through a web page, according to the article. But what about encryption? Do you want somebody to sniff your password and let your lawn mower go berzerk?
Try to explain this to a lawyer...
Sure. I'm looking forward for the pr0n spam mails for this device...
42. Easy. What is 32 + 8 + 2?
I hear there's a strong grass roots movement against it.
"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them." -- George H. W. Bush
I'm going to wait for the remotely operated chainsaw.
Hmm, the family which we traditionally celebrate midsummer eve with have had one of these for ages (at least 5 years). As far as I know it wasn't internet connected though, but could navigate their yard without problems, cutting the grass suitably as it went (and they have a big yard with lots of trees). They do live near Huskvarna, Småland in Sweden though (where the mower in the article was manufactured) so it's possible it was some kind of prototype they've gotten their hands on.
robot lawnmowers have been around for at LEAST 20 years. I made one back in the 80's from a series in Byte magazine using a KIM-1 as the brain.
or a simple search on google gives hundreds of ready to buy models... Like this one here
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Internet-enabled Robot to Mow Lawns - becomes addicted to pr0n instead, grass now 3 feet high.
"Good things don't end with eum, they end with mania or teria." - H. Simpson
oo imagining the possibilities! low cost lawnmowing service (putting high school entrepeneurs out of business) by cutting out the man, order the service over the internet, the mower drives itself from it's rechargable home stopping at each house that is signed up (and leaving flyers at the others=[) and mowing their lawns (oh did i leave those important financial documents on the lawn?? well sue the mowers!!) and that's just lawn mowing, they could eventually have automated pizza delivery robots, maids, nannies, and finally! sexbots! of course i've seen AI=)
er- moo
"I bet I'll get blamed for this." --Mayor Quimby
Then it's your prized orchids that are cut and not the grass?
So when you order the mower to get her lawn ornaments that you have hated for so long, you can throw your hands up and say "well, I loved that little windmill too, but honey, ITS THESE DARN HACKERS."
Geeks don't have yards.
That they know of anyway.
All these ideas are never usable because of power concerns. The science has been there for years but who is going to want a mower that can only mow for 30 minutes before a recharge? How about after two years when the battery is down to 10 minutes? All of these technologies will only become worth while when fuel cells take off. Mow the lawn take, take a drink of hydrogen, chase some children down the street due to "erroneous user commands"
"A good friend will bail you out of jail. A true friend will be sitting next to you saying, 'damn....that was fun!'"
Wow!
Trollem mirabilem hanc subnotationis exigiutas non caperet
Besides the coolness of an autonomous lawnbot, BOY, WHEN CAN WE INSTALL LINUX ON ONE OF THESE?! Yeah, it's a troll and I'm lovin' every minute of it :)
You need a FREE iPod Nano
Am I the only one who cannot wait till some 12-old c8l h4x0r will make all neighbornhoods lawn mowers to cut HIS grass 5 times a week ?
I particularly liked the Fortune 500 part.
Insulting Linux, of course, is standard.
This just in...
calling posts "trolls" instead of providing a logical rebuttal is FUD, pure and simple.
I wonder what security devices they will use on the things. It would kind of suck to have someone stop by and toss your $3000 dollar lawn mower in their trunk, and drive off, while you watch helplessly from the Internet.
Casca
I am just waiting for MowZilla! Just don't run beta releases around small children.
August 17, 2003 - has sex with unsuspecting client. Dissatisfaction with the incident leads to the creation of a companion: Internet-Enabled Chainsaw Woman
August 18, 2003 - The Ambiguously-Lawnmowing-Chainsawing Duo begin a massive telemarketing scheme to take over the world
Just think, you could have it mow real-time stock quotes into your lawn so you could be up to date as you rush out the front door to work!
This is the sight for the lawnmower, however, it does not mention connections to the internet. Perhaps it is the base model that the university modified?
What are we going to do tonight Brain?
nice troll though
--
WHO ATE MY BREAKFAST PANTS?
Why is this NEWS? Why not report: Radio-controlled
lawn mower?
Try something NEWSworthy !
Couldn't they get Karel the Robot to do this?
OK, he would have to do something with his beepers, and he is physically challenged (what with his inability to turn left), but still!
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
Pasty basement Linux hackers?
"I'm a top programmer at a Fortune 500 Company and write open source software in my spare time...I cherish mowing my lawn"
"Growing Problem of Obesity in America"
"Starving Children in Africa"
"Even Theo DeRaadt..."
*** The real dilemma ***: should this me modded up as "Funny" or modded down as "Troll"???
Obviously, our civilization has way too much time.
That movie sucked ass. The only line worth remembering from it was Pierce Brosnan's: "He was the best chimp I had."
Isn't "mowing the lawn" supposed to be a romantic thing? I know if i'm with the GF in the shower and instead of little scissors I bust out RobotBoxMower2002, I can put myself in /dev/null/ for the night.
What if you accidentally run over the CAT5 with your mower!?
Cats: the disposable pet.
So? When I go to McDonalds(TM) the guy pouring my shake also works for a Fortune 500 company. So does the dude in the back, helping to clean the bathrooms.
As for TOP programmer... well... maybe you COULD be a top programmer, but a top programmer at Microsoft still doesn't say much.
Top Programmer at M$ vs. s'kiddie contributing to Moz. Pick who's top of that little list.
I remember reading about this in one of those airling expense toys catalogs. There's a similar thing that works a little differently. You bury a cable around the edges of your lawn, and around trees/shrubs/non-mowed areas. Put this thing out there and it does it's business, turning whenever it encounters the underground cable. At $500 it's not all that much more expensive than a decent mower already is.
It's not internet enabled, but is it really all that safe to be mowing remotely anyhow? At least sit in the hammock with a cold brew and make sure it doesn't hit your neighbor's kids or something.
Here's some links;
Robomower w/ video of it in action!
Robomower
He said lawn GNOME'S.
The laser mower would be more efficient than a robot. You place a laser in the middle of your yard and when you flip the switch, it rotates and makes one 360 degree pass and your're done.
BTM
That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
After reading the headline, I scrolled down, glanced at the fortune line which was:
Robot, n.: University administrator.
Now, that I'd like to see. . . "Chancellor, you missed a patch over by the garden!"
no comment
Here's a photograph at the Massey Uni. site.
Everyone knows that damage is done to the soul by bad motion pictures. -Pope Pius XI
Kitty puree makes the grass grow nice.
...of the time the guy from Los Alamos came with his bug robots. He was working on one to mow his lawn. Interesting idea.
Basic bug robot:
1. Uses solar power.
2. Has to run only for a few seconds every minute so the cats don't pounce on it and knock it over.
3. Uses light sensors on the "eyes" so roadway looks black and the bug never goes into the road and gets squished.
4. The eyes are crossed so the left eye moves the right legs and vice versa. This is so if you want to move in the left direction the right legs turn the robot.
5. Multiple legs so if one gets stuck the rest can still move.
6. The guy used simple motors from record players so the legs only move a certain way and then reverse and go the other way. By using the up/down motion the legs could be made to push the robot forwards while allowing the legs to move freely while it adjusted to take the next move.
6a. The motors have a built in override so if the leg gets stuck it won't damage the unit.
6b. A randomization circuit randomly picks which leg will move next. Thus, as long as one leg is free to move it will eventually get back to that leg and keep the unit moving.
7. A pair of blades cut the grass. The are opened and closed randomly also.
8. The bug randomly walks the lawn because of 6b. Thus, at some point the entire lawn is mowed.
This guy had a robot which cleaned his windows, walked over any surface, and even reacted to sounds. The light sensors, with a red filter, saw the road as a black area. Since it was drawn to light areas the bug might reach the edge of the grass but it wouldn't venture into it and would instead simply turn and go another direction. Also, with some improvements, he was able to show that the bugs would actually begin backing up. A very interesting demonstration.
Clever move that was - Massey University is in New Zealand, but they sneakily use a decoy link that points to a South African university.
In the spirit of Yale vs Princeton, I wonder if the SA university will charge Massey with attacking them with a DDOS.
Yeah, I already have an internet-connected robot that mows the lawn. It's called a teenager.
unfortunately, the links to the research group and list of projects appear to be broken
Great, the lawnbot can't even tell the difference between a T1 and grass...
On a related note, the cheif research assistant was also missing his wallet, dog, and 2 children.
12 million sheep in a country of 3 million people and they still need to cut grass mechanically?
A network controlled lawnmower... I guess if you flipped it over like a helicopter and added a gatling gun you would have one of those hovering killers from the movie Terminator. Add some AI to the controlling box and presto! Maybe a webcam on the mover with some motion recognition code. Frontend it with a small cluster and... Sounds like a weekend project!
So I'm just going to flame: You're a retard.
If you think mowing the lawn constitutes good physical excersize, you need to get your head screwed on straight. It is perfectly possable, and even fairly common to be someone that likes to get excersize through somehting like riding a bike, walking, going to a club and not want to waste your time on a mundane activity like mowing the lawn which is not good excersize.
As for your starving children thing, I'll again repeat my first statement: You're a retard. People have a right to work in the field they want. Personally, I work on giving network access to university students. It's my damn choice and I'm not a horrable individual just because I'm not in the peace corp.
Speaking of which if you care so much how about you quit whining on Slashdot, get off your lazy ass and join the peace corp. Stop whining that other people need to save the world and go save it yourself.
talon@khi.local:/root# cat /proc/lawnmower/stats
/dev/lawnmower
/dev/lawnmower-cam &
/usr/local/fourier/image-recognize --camera /dev/lawnmower-cam --control /dev/lawnmower --searchfile /root/pretty-woman.3d
/dev/lawnmower-cam for occurences matching pattern in /root/pretty-woman.3d
/dev/lawnmower to patrol premises.
internet-mower ready.
gastank: 80%
garage door: open
talon@khi.local:/root# echo "mow.begin" >
talon@khi.local:/root# webcam-view
talon@khi.local:/root#
Fourier Image Recognition application
Scanning with
Optimal camera search parameters calculated. Beginning remote control of
MPEG video stream will be saved to the local directory when an match occurs.
I'm really looking forward to more and more dangerous items being hooked up for script kiddies to play with.
All errors in tact and fact are transmission errors.
I can just imagine tool companies coming out with whole product lines of internet-controlled lawn and garden tools. My neighbor (we call him Lefty now), has an internet-controlled chain saw. And Lorena down the street bought a hedge clipper from Snap-Off Tools.
(Que booming announcer voice)
Internet enabled snow blower!!
Internet enabled dog collar!!
Internet enabled Popeil Pocket Fisherman!!
Slapping an X10 camera on something will become the equivalent of "case modding"
Cool - now I can be hundreds of miles away and still be able to tell when my expensive free-range lawnmower is being stolen.
but imagine the DoS using compromised mowers.
"Reports today indicate that no one can enter or exit Acme Headquarters today due to thousands of internet controlled lawn mowers swarming there."
-pyrrho
Automower: Must... Mow... Feline...
*Chases after cat*
Ok, I'll put my lawnmower out front, you drop by, pay me $50.00, and I'll crank the mower for you, and you may knock yourself out having your very own "Mowing the Lawn Experience". This thrilling nature-discovery adventure is yours to enjoy, right here in the middle of West Nile Virus Land, with 100 degree heat indexes thrown in for good measure. As your adventure progresses, I'll crank up the Weed-Eater, and you'll have a go at that. Remember, I'm doing the hardest part, cranking up these one-cylinder beasts for you to enjoy. Ear plugs are provided, of course, for those not used to hearing cuss-words that are necessary to get these little &%*$# mowers and weed-eaters cranked. All yours, for only $50.00! Imagine the stories that you'll be able to tell when you are back at poolside at the apartment complex! Offer good until it starts pouring down rain again, and the mosquitoes are encouraged to breed.
Rapidweather's Linux Screenshots.
it brings a whole new spin to the idea of mowing your hot neighbors lawn.
Honesty may be the best policy, but apparently by elimination, dishonesty is the second best policy.
"You call that mowin' the lawn? Bad Webmower! No cookie!"
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
From the article;
The mower was developed in collaboration with lawnmower and chainsaw company Husqvarna, part of the Sweden-based AB Electrolux home appliance maker.
The next step is an automatic vacuum cleaner, Bright said.
Husqvarna has sold a self-propelled, self-navigating autonomous lawnmower for YEARS.
The automatic vacuum cleaner (also fully autonomous, fully self-navigating) was introduced over a year ago.
(Linked pages are in Swedish, sorry about that. I did not find an English page at these companies' sites.)
I wonder how it was programmed.... did they ask the robot to teach itself how to mow the lawn? Does it look beneath itself to see if the grass beneath it is too long before cutting? If so, would it just wander onto the driveway and claim success :>?
Am I the only one who heard Roxette to sing "I'm gonna get blitzed for some sex"?
Whenever my parents would make me mow the lawn when I was younger I always dreamed of building a robot-lawnmower so I didn't have to do it anymore. And don't call me lazy either, I had to mow an acre of hilly grass with a push mower once a week. :)
Sorry, but this thing just never could have been invented in California.
I was looking into getting one of the Husqvarna robotic-lawn mowers. The convinience and the cool factor (well, if you have lawn obsessed neighbors like mine it's cool) made it seem pretty inticing, but further research indicated that there were a few problems.
What this mower does is basically mow your lawn at it's discresion. This is usually done in random zig-zag patterns. If you're a lawn fanatic (Sad but true) or just like having a decent looking lawn that runs straight with smooth, opposing lines, this wont give you the results you want. It basically mows where ever the hell it wants - no asthetics involved. I believe this mower likely uses the same method, and until they get a little more intellegent, I'll stick with the John Deere.
Unless they try and put linux on it im not interested. ;)
Having done that, I now feel justified in asking WTF is the point of and internet connected lawn mower? Marketing. I'm convinced it's marketing because I can see zero reason that you'd actually want your lawn mower attached to the internet. So that it can order gas refills? So that you can manually start the mower? (Ignorant of the fact that your toddler is playing on the lawn - just out of view of the web-cam that's part of the package.) Or is it really that the mower is just a robot on a timer, with a webcam on your house. For marketing.
I mean, otherwise, whee, what a fun hack target? What's a better thing to play with over the internet than something that actually moves and cuts things and generally causes mayhem? Simply cannot beat the idea of chasing cats halfway across the world with someone else's robot mower.
Makes me despair the species, you know?
IP is just rude.
Is there any torture so subl
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!
Has anyone ever seen the lawnmower scene in Maximum Overdrive?
DISCLAIMER:
I don't believe what I write, and neither should you.
... is a remote controlled lawn mower. Maybe a 12" cutting radius and an RC Car style remote. If you really want to make them sell you make it so that you can snap on shells that look like your favorite NASCAR or whatever other vehicle suits your fancy.
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." Col. Jeff Cooper
one of these things killed some Turing Police who were chasing Case. Shouldn't we have learned by now?!?
Now I can mow my lawn without even having to leave my chair!
You nazi scum.
It says :
The next step is an automatic vacuum cleaner, Bright said.
But the thing is, (and i made a submission to slashdot about a year ago) dyson (a uk brilliant inventor and industrialist) created and already sells a robotic vacuum cleaner..
see here for details Dyson
When it comes to mowing lawns this is all I and every other self-respecting geek really needs.
That is unless you have five riding mowers , five friends, one big yard and a shitload of paintballs.
>
Don't mow your lawn / Let the grass be greener on the other side
Don't mow your lawn / If you get a drought, just let it hang out
Don't mow your lawn / You can sow it, but don't mow it
Don't mow your lawn / Blur those property lines
And make some wine with the dandelions.
-- Bluesiana Hot Sauce
I've been waiting four years now for an internet enabled coffee brewer that uses RFC 2324, Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol!
Chris 'coldacid' Charabaruk Meldstar Entertainment
I can't wait until someone hacks into the robot, now geeks can be murderers too! They won't have to be warded off by their size and lack of muscle anymore, they can just remotely mow people over.
Electrolux OWNS Husqvarna
m h
And had a robotic Vaccuum cleaner they were showing as a demo in 1999
see
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/465305.stm
or
http://www.eureka.com/whatsnew/robotvacupdate.htm
(I know I wanted one then)
Yet at the cnet story
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-950135.html?tag=cd_
the university researcher is quoted as saying
"The next step is an automatic vacuum cleaner,"
(something they've already done)
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random