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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.
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)
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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.
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...
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
This is the demographic where people would have understood *why* the FCC needed to get involved.
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.