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Robotic Lawn Mower Gets Regulatory Approval
Dave Knott writes with news that US regulators have given iRobot clearance to make and sell an unmanned lawn mower.
The company, known for its robot vacuum cleaner Roomba, has designed a robot lawn mower that would wirelessly connect with stakes in the ground operating as signal beacons, rising above the ground by as much as 61 centimetres. The Federal Communications Commission usually prohibits the operation of "fixed outdoor infrastructure" transmitting low-power radio signal without a licence. iRobot's lawn mower beacons fall in that category, and the stake design required a waiver from the FCC, which was opposed by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, stating that the lawn mowers would interfere with its telescopes.
An anonymous reader writes with another piece of automated plant-related hardware at a slightly different scale: The tractor pulling the grain cart in the video has no one in the cab. It is controlled by an open source autopilot, and it can operate autonomously all day in the field without a driver. I can't take credit for every bit of hardware and software used but I did put it all together.
I mean, the NRAO is only about Science.
A robotic lawn mower is about PROFIT.
iBaldDog
Table-ized A.I.
for drone operators, but they approve a lawnmower? What in the hell is wrong with them?
A terrible movie, but it shows what can happen when someone hacks a lawnmower. Spoiler: killer lawnmower.
You can buy robolawnmowers for years in Germany, not sure why it is such a big deal.
You have been able to buy robotic lawnmowers for a while now. There are competing brands on Amazon. I'm guessing that it is just iRobot getting approval that is the actual story. Not robotic mowers in general.
Now get off my lawn (my robot wants to mow it)
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
Robotic lawnmowers have been around since the 60s
Also, from 2012 on there has been some popularity.
I'm guessing iRobot's claimed innovation is you aren't going to have to bury a wire around the perimeter of your yard anymore?
It doesn't sound like a very interesting improvement to me. If a robotic mower will do it for you, then putting down the wire doesn't seem like much cost.
The real problem at least around here, is the yards are not even at all.... there are lots of little dirt hills and muddy soil depressions.. place where drainage is poor, etc.
Shrubs and little patches of garden, and small plants all over the place that cannot be mowed.
It's kind of tough for a human to take care of it, having to dodge dozens of little obstacles, let alone a robot.
The greens to be freaking perfect every day. No excuses anymore, run those electric lawnmowers twice a day...
iRobot's lawn mower beacons fall in that category, and the stake design required a waiver from the FCC, which was opposed by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, stating that the lawn mowers would interfere with its telescopes.
These upside-down drones will be cutting grass under the stars while astronomers are hard at work smoking grass?
I'm a little baffled as to why any of that is needed?
I'd just use a wifi network for it. Why do anything else? Here someone will say "what if you wanted to do a long range whatever"... I don't think the "beacons" work that way. I think they're just used to help the mower home in on a charge station. Mix that with an infared light on the front and the mower would have a second thing to home in on. The wifi wouldn't even have to do anything. It could just make a bogus SSID broadcast every second or so.... done.
There are a lot of automated mowers on the market already. I'm a little confused as to why iRobot bothered with the FCC on this matter. What do they get out of this besides having to deal with lethargic retrograde federal institutions with no vested interest in competence, customer service, or even rationality? Clearly the winning move is to find whatever loophole you can use so you just avoid their mandate.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Has anyone been able to find any pricing on this?
Or specs like battery life?
Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
Obligatory - Do we know how these will react to peculiar gravitational anomalies ?
Sorry, but all of you lazy people out there who dream of a day when you can just tell your autonomous lawn mower, "Mow the front lawn, please" and allow it on it's way, unmanned, will just have to be disappointed. In the end, lawnmowing regulatory agencies will demand there be a full set of manual controls, along with an unimpeachable manual override, and a properly trained, tested, licensed, and insured lawncare equipment operator will be required at those controls at all times. Seriously, it's a safety issue; you can't have a box on wheels with sharp, high-speed blades whirling unless there is a competent human being available at all times as the last backup system, regardless of how many mechanical or electronic backup systems you have on the mower. Otherwise what will happen when the day comes that your so-called 'autonomous' lawn mower malfunctions and runs out of control, colliding with a human being and cutting off their toes? Or the family dog for that matter.
..OK, enough fooling around. Anyone who has read my comments on autonomous cars will know I'm trying to be funny. Hope someone enjoyed that..
In all seriousness: How is this an innovation? I lived with some friends in their house for a year, and they have (and have had for years now) a fully autonomous lawn mower. There's a wire they ran that defines the perimeter of the area to be mowed. Does a pretty good job, too. Designers even had a sense of humor; if the bumper collides with something (or you kick it) it makes a "BOING!" sound effect.
Also, in all seriousness: Why even bother having a lawn at all? Grass is one of the most boring things imaginable. It also uses a rediculous amount of water, and a rediculous amount of labor to make it look decent. Alternately there are plenty of other types of ground cover that look as good if not better, use a fraction of the water (some don't even need to be watered at all, really), and little to no upkeep.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
and we're talking about it. Free publicity?
PS, I fucking hate that /. penalizes me for typing fast. YOU wait 14 seconds asshole.
It remembers where the Dandelions are.
There are already dozens of robotic mowers on the market and have been some for several years; names like Bosch, Worx, Robomow, Lawnbot, and even from big name mower makers like Husqvarna and John Deere.
Why the fuck are people treating this one like it's the first just because it's from iRobot?
the difference with this mower is it uses wireless stakes to define the cutting area. competing robo-mowers require you to bury wires in the ground. The biggest benefit I can see is ease of making changes... Decide to do some planting, put out some yard decor or otherwise change the layout? Re-position your stakes. No digging up the yard.
The biggest problems I've seen with the robo-mower idea are related to cost.
1. Existing robo-mowers (at least as sold by places like Home Depot) are expensive. Like $2000-$3000 USD expensive.
2. Letting them run while you're away (which would be one of the attractions and selling points) means your very expensive mower is out there unattended for anyone to grab. Never mind the potential liability concerns. My back yard is fenced, but most people in the US don't fence a front yard.
3. For the price of a robo-mower, you could purchase a very nice riding mower, with assorted attachments. This would dramatically reduce the amount of time spent mowing, and give you additional uses like hauling, leaf cleanup, tilling and so on. Robo-mower, it mows. That's all.
I suppose if I had a large rural property, where the risk of theft or cutting off the toes of a curious person was minimized, I could see how a robo-mower might be ok. For the typical suburbanite, what we REALLY want is a robo-lawn-care-service that will mow, edge, trim hedges, fertilize, do pest control. Like that other favorite of Popular Mechanics, the flying car, I'm sure it's just around the corner...
This will end well.
Noooo.... a drone-mower?
Surely this will have "high powered" cameras onboard that will violate my privacy and how long before one of these mowers jumps a berm, soars into the air and brings down a commercial passenger jet?
Don't you people read the carefully researched and highly objective news stories on the dangers of drones????
But please, ignore this guy Chris Manno, what would he know... he's just an ex-USAF pilot who now flies commercial airliners for American Airlines. He clearly has no credibility when compared to the deluded ravings of some lowly intern in a tabloid newspaper or some government regulator who's hell-bent on restricting any freedoms they may have overlooked last year.
Sure.... They tip over...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
There are people who seriously can't see the Bad Idea Fairy sitting on that thing from a long ways away?
The only reason I "trust" a Roomba is because it's relatively incapable of causing damage or injury. Putting a big, sharp spinning blade on it and essentially creating a BattleBots competitor with no cage is the point at which I start shooting at the goddamn thing.
If I didn't go out and push the lawnmower around on Saturdays, I'd never get a chance to see my milf-y neighbor sunbathing.
I don't even have to use my hands to push the mower.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Yo ah would be very trippin' 'boutsafety fo' residential uses. Unlike commercial users, residential users tend ta avoid or ignore maintenance, an' signs o' poor safety might not be obvious. muh largest concern would be chil'ns, who is very unpredictable.
Yo Read muh message an' don' be downgrading me cuz ah talk different than you.
These are not new. They have been around for decades.
What else can we approve?
until this thing accidentally targets a wedding party.
... sorta like cows ...
Why does the NRAO care? There are already protected by the National Radio Quiet Zone. Is this going to interfere with their operations form outside the zone? And worse than all the other electronics running outside the zone?
Surely these aren't going to be allowed within it, are they? If they are to be allowed there then maybe that's the problem the NRAO should be interested in, not the more general fact that this technology is made available to the rest of us.