IRobot Unveils Autonomous Robotic Lawnmower

IRobot, the company behind the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners, has announced an autonomously operating robotic lawnmower. The device needs some help in the beginning, but can then mow the grass largely autonomously.

IRobot reports that the Terra works by means of wireless beacons that must be placed around the boundary of the lawn. As a result, users do not have to lay wire to mark the boundaries of the grass. In conjunction with the accompanying app, users must manually move the lawnmower across the lawn once on first use to teach the device where to mow and where not to mow.

According to the manufacturer, the robot lawn mower has an operating time of one hour and it takes two hours to charge the battery. If the battery threatens to run out halfway through a mowing session, the Terra automatically moves to the charger and resumes where it left off after recharging. According to the manufacturer, the lawn mower is able to repel hard objects such as stones, so that the blades cannot be damaged by them. The device would be resistant to rain.

Users are able to set the desired grass height via the accompanying iRobot Home App. The route and a schedule can also be managed in the app. The robotic lawnmower will be released in Germany sometime later this year, for an as yet undisclosed price.