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| Apr. 4, 01:00 EDT |
| Grass
is greener when you have this little fella on duty |
| Switch
on robotic mower and wait for crowd to form |
Susan
Bourette
Special to the Star |
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Picture this: You in the hammock reading the sports section while a robot
works up a sweat mowing the grass. Eat your heart out, George Jetson.
The future is now with RL500 Robomow, a space-age robotic mower that is
capable of taming the most bedraggled lawn by remote control.
The Robomow has cut a swath through Europe, swept through the United
States. Now it's just started to kick grass and take names in southern
Ontario yards, courtesy of the Texas-based manufacturer, Friendly
Robotics.
This much is known for sure: Having the first Robomow on your block is
guaranteed to stir up envy and curiosity when the growing season kicks in.
Thus far, as few as 20 householders in the Greater Toronto area have
acquired a Robomow, among 300 or so across Canada. One user, William
Slessor in Bolton, says he was taken aback by how many people showed up at
his home last summer to watch his brightly coloured android in action.
"People would stop their cars and stare,'' says the 70-year-old
homeowner, who bought the Robomow because he and his wife were having
trouble keeping up with their unruly suburban-sized yard.
"I waved at them from the window, mouthing the words, `I'm cutting
the lawn' ... They looked surprised."
The Robomow is selling this spring for $925, an all-time low, says Alex
Fejer, who heads up the local distributorship, Technogadgets and Robotics
Inc. in Downsview. Last fall, it was $1,300. He says "economies of
scale" account for the price cut, and figures it has hit bottom.
`'The people who own it can't talk about it enough ... It's a great gift
for anyone looking for something unusual to give,'' Fejer says.
The Robomow was invented in Israel by a former fighter pilot tinkering in
his spare time. It packs a computer chip and can mow up to 3,500 square
feet of lawn on one battery charge. It takes about 2 1/2 hours to
cover that much yard ("If you thought watching the grass grow was fun
..." sniffed Consumer Reports) and you probably want to stay
nearby while it's working, but that's exactly the point — it's working
and you're not.
Altogether, about 10,000 Robomows have been sold world-wide. It won the
top prize for the most innovative product at the Chicago Hardware Show a
couple of years ago and spawned some rivals, notably the Auto Mower from
Husqvarna. John Deere is said to be developing its own version.
The Robomow is canary yellow and resembles an oversized computer mouse.
It's packed with sensors and is powered by a rechargeable battery.
It comes equipped with special perimeter wire that a homeowner sets out,
secured by plastic pegs, to mark the yard boundaries and flower beds. The
wire connects to a 4.5-volt power source that can be detected by the
mower.
With the click of the joystick on the remote control, the mower begins its
work by sniffing out the wire and cutting a 2-foot swath along the full
perimeter. Once that part is done, the real fun begins. The Robomow begins
zigzagging back and forth across the yard, turning tail each time it
encounters the perimeter wire. It keeps going in this random fashion until
its computer mind says the yard is done. Then it shuts down.
Be forewarned: Mid-job, the lawn is not a pretty sight. Instead, there are
uncut stripes of lawn that may resemble a crop of Mohawk haircuts.
The Robomow comes with "tactile" bumpers so it can react to
obstacles like rocks, pets and small children by veering off. If something
causes its wheels to lift more than half an inch off the ground, the mower
automatically turns off. It is a hill climber, of sorts — the European
Web site says it can handle grades of up to 10 per cent.
As well as being a labour-saving device, Robomow is touted as being
environmentally friendly. All the grass cuttings are mulched as it cuts.
The mower doesn't use gas or oil, there are no emissions and it's
"whisper quiet."
Marc Altman, a Toronto dentist who lives in Forest Hill, snapped up a
Robomow after his gardener failed to show up. "I work 60 hours a week
and time is precious,'' the 28-year-old explained. "I think it's a
brilliant product. I'd certainly buy it again.''
So would Slessor in Bolton. A retired civil engineering professor, he
likes the eco-benefits of using a Robomow and says thanks to the mulching,
his lawn never looked greener.
Still, there are a few glitches that need to be worked out, Slessor
admits. For example, if the lawn is dewy, the mower can't find its grip
and shuts down. More vexing, perhaps, is that the perimeter of the lawn
often needs trimming after the mower has done its work.
Slessor did a cost-benefit analysis and figured it was going to cost him
about $2.35 an hour to run the Robomow over 10 years. He says that
represented a big savings over what he used to pay a teenager to do the
lawn. And Robomow, he jokes, always shows up.
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