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What to look for in an electric lawn mower
If you're looking to electrify your lawn care equipment, here's some advice on what features to look for by two engineers who helped design said features.
Segway's robot mower uses GPS to stay on your lawn
There's no need to install a perimeter wire with the Navimow.
Hills can't stop this all-wheel-drive robot lawn mower
Robotic lawn mowers aren't a recent development, but they're still far from common, at least in the US. This week at MWC, Husqvarna announced its first all-wheel drive (AWD) option with the 435X. In addition to some other unique features, this new Automower works with Amazon's Alexa and Google Home to fit in with the rest of your smart home devices. And yes, the integration with virtual assistants means you can control the robotic landscaper with your voice.
iRobot Terra mower cuts your lawn with Roomba-like smarts
If you took a look at newer Roombas and wondered why that clever mapping couldn't be used to cut your lawn... well, you're not alone. iRobot has unveiled the Terra, a robotic lawn mower that uses the company's mapping tech to trim your grass with minimal fuss. Instead of marking your lawn area with boundary wires as you do with many existing robomowers, you place wireless beacons (shown below) and drive the bot once around the perimeter. After that, it's largely hands-off. Like a Roomba, the Terra will automatically make the rounds and return to a charging base whenever it's low on power.
Craftsman aims to pimp your lawnmower with digital dash, traction control and more
At this week's North American International Auto Show, Craftsman unveiled its 2012 CTX tractor line to the car-loving masses, and let's just get this out there -- this is not your father's lawnmower. Propelled by a 30-horsepower Briggs & Stratton motor, this grass-assassin can hit forward speeds of 8MPH and, for those Jason Statham-style chase scenes, 3MPH in reverse. The tractor is equipped with automatic traction control, an electronic fuel management system that removes the need for a carburetor, electronic cutting height adjustment and a 54-inch mowing plain with "quick deck removal." Couple that with cruise control, digital instruments, a cup holder and 12-volt power adapter (have to have some suds and songs while you mow, right?) and you have yourself quite the package. The CTX will be available this February at Sears stores nationwide and will be priced between $3000 and $6500.
Husqvarna's Panthera Leo is the mower of the future for your lawn of today
Concept cars are a dime a dozen around these parts -- but concept lawnmowers? A little more rare, and the latest from Husqvarna looks to be about as closely related to that rusty John Deere in your shed as Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes McLaren F1 car is to your boss's E-Class. It has paddles on the wheel for adjusting three independent mowing blades, a "sophisticated" LCD display that displays speed and obstacle proximity, and a rechargeable lithium-phosphate battery with enough staying power to trim your yard for two hours straight, all shown in a soothing and thoroughly rendered promo video after the break. The one thing it can't do, apparently, is tame the wild locks of Swedish male models.
Husqvarna introduces pricey solar powered Automower
Robotic lawn mowers have been keeping yards tidy for their masters for a good while now, but Husqvarna is looking to teach an old robot new tricks with its Automower. As expected, the grass muncher is ultra-quiet and outputs zero emissions, and you can even program it to take off and get to work whenever you please. Reportedly, a fully charged battery can get about 40 minutes of cutting done, and best of all, the unit will automatically return to its charging base to juice back up if the sun isn't out. Still, with a price tag of around £2,000 ($3,971), you may just be better off paying that punk kid down the street to handle your mowing needs.[Via Pocket-lint, video at Megawhat]
Robot lawnmower kills Danish man
In what we surely hope isn't the opening salvo of the robot insurrection, a 45-year old Danish municipal worker was tragically killed by an industrial robotic lawnmower this afternoon, after the unit tumbled off a slope and onto the poor fellow doing his job. Although we've seen quite a few robotic lawnmowers, we're not too familiar with the RC-controlled Dvorak Spider 01 unit the man was using; our only hope is that this is, of course, an isolated incident.
