Slashdot Mirror
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.
This robot uses ultra-wideband navigation (RLS) to determine its position. The beacons you install work like miniature GPS satellites. As such, the robot can know where to mow without you having to bury an electronic fence cable underground. Probably the technology they are using is made by DecaWave, but other options exist.
This technology is unlicensed, but outdoor installations require a waiver in the US for the manufacturer. In the EU the user needs a personal waiver for outdoor UWL RLS deployments. This is usually granted automatically upon registration of the installation with the regulator. Many consumers don't know this and simply deploy it. The interference potential is almost zero, so you will very likely not get in trouble.