Robomower

The Terra. © iRobot.

iRobot, the maker of the Roomba vacuum, announced Terra, its first autonomous lawnmower. While most autonomous lawnmowers require buried wires in order to define the boundaries of the area to be mowed, the Terra only requires wireless beacons around the perimeter of the lawn, which is much simpler and more adaptable. Someone will have to guide the mower once around the lawn using a mobile application, to teach it where to go and what to avoid (typically, a flower bed). The battery life lasts one hour and a full recharge takes two hours. If the battery drains midway, Terra will return to its charger and resume later where it left off. Naturally, the robot is impervious to bad weather and impact. iRobot says Terra will first launch in Germany this year. The price hasn’t been announced yet, but Terra's comparable devices range from US$ 1,000 to US$ 3,000.

⇨ Ars Technica, “The Roomba lawnmower is finally happening.”