Geeky Robo Mower

The Robo Mower is a device that randomly meanders around you lawn cutting the grass as it goes, changing direction randomly whenever it dumps into an object or reaches the edge of the lawn.

It knows where the lawn ends because before you use it for the first time from the base station you layout a thin wire all around the edge of the lawn, placing it at ground level and pegging it in at regular intervals so it and the pegs quickly becomes buried by new growth of grass and becomes invisible; with no risk of you or anyone else tripping on them. The wire gets a tiny electric current from the base station and when the Robo Mower goes over the wire it detects it and knows that it's the edge of the lawn so changes direction.

The Base Station sits on the edge of the lawn, preferably in the corner and near the house, and is plugged into the mains. The Robo Mower returns to the base station whenever it gets hungry and recharges before returning to its relentless task of keeping your lawn neat and tidy.

The mower is made by Husqvarna a large and well established International company who's been trading for many years specialising in garden tractors and mowers. For the very large gardens e.g. country estates small garden tractors and riders (sit on tractors) and for the more modest and small gardens more conventional lawn mowers and Robotic Mowers.

In 2001 we were approached by the Bristol Evening Post (our local newspaper) and asked if we would trial three household products (washing machine, vacuum cleaner and this robotic mower) for a week and give our feedback as part of a feature article they were running.

After placing the base station on the lawn, laying out the wire around the edge of the lawn and plugging the base station into the mains, I placed this geeky robo mower into its base station to charge; and once charged on its merry way it went.

The mower did an excellent job, with just 24 hours randomly meandering around the lawn it had already given it a good cut and by the end of the week the lawn was almost immaculate.

What can I say, well if you have a lawn and find cutting it a weekly chore then I highly recommend it; provided you have the spare cash e.g. it's not cheap.

The Price starts at £1,000 for just a basic model that manages up to 500 square metres of lawn and their top range model for 5500 square metres is a staggering £3500; so to get one (even the basic model for small lawns is going to put a dent in your wallet.

But if you have the money spare (pin money) then I highly recommend it, and it would certainly be a talking-point at your BBQs.