Feel too hot and lazy to mow the lawn in the late-summer heat? Why not let Miimo -- the first entry in the home robotics market from Honda -- do it for you.
Miimo
is a robotic lawnmower that works via electronic sensors to continuously cut grass and safely navigate slopes and obstacles, according to the company, which for 10 years has developed an intelligent humanoid robot called ASIMO. ASIMO, which walks and talks and has been lauded for its innovation, is less than practical for everyday use and is not commercially available.
Miimo, on the other hand, is designed for the home consumer market, looking and performing somewhat like iRobot’s Roomba robotic vacuum and aimed at helping make a common task easier, safer, and more environmentally friendly. Miimo will join existing robotic lawnmowers like Robomow and Husqvarna’s Auto Mower in the European market early next year, with release in the US sometime thereafter.
Honda has entered the home robotics market with Miimo, a robotic lawn mower that communicates electronically with a perimeter wire to stay within the confines of a lawn or patch of grass. It cuts continuously with a range of settings and blade heights according to user preference. (Source: Honda)
Miimo works by communicating with an electronic signal in a perimeter wire around a lawn or a patch of grass, navigating the area to be groomed and cutting just 2mm to 3mm of grass at a time. By cutting in this way, the robot creates grass clippings so small that rather than be collected, they are spread across the lawn to eventually break down as a natural fertilizer, according to Honda.
Miimo has three blades that Honda said it designed to sustain minimal damage if they come into contact with sharp or hard objects in the grass. Rather than shatter on impact, they bend, which means broken blade shards won’t be left on the lawn. The robot also has so-called “bump” sensors that detect whether it comes into contact with an object, activating a sensor that will turn and move the robot away from the impact point.
Users can adjust the robot’s blade height between 20mm and 60mm depending on preference, as well as choose from three modes of operation -- random, directional, or mixed. In the first mode, the robot mows the lawn without a specific pattern, while the second mode features a back-and-forth movement with increased speed. In mixed mode, the robot employs both random and directional methods to cut grass, according to Honda.
The robot also has the ability to ascend slopes and will automatically reduce its wheel speed if its hits a patch of thick or long grass or rough terrain. Additionally, Honda has designed Miimo with built-in safety sensors that will activate if the robot leaves the ground. If this happens, the mower will shut down completely, sound an alarm, and cannot start again until a user enters the proper PIN.
Miimo also features a self-charging lithium-ion battery that monitors its power level and autonomously returns to its docking station when it needs recharging. As with other robotic mowers, this type of power minimizes environmental impact, reducing emissions that come with gasoline-driven lawnmowers, as well as reducing noise pollution.
I do not care for most of the chores associated with being a home owner, but mowing the grass is a good excuse to get out of the house and lose the blues of the day while pondering the meaning of life. I agree with Warren's early post that this just presents an opening for my wife to find more chores. If someone really wants to create a robot to do really good things for a homeowner, make one that scrapes and then paints the window frames that are in need of both. How about one that cleans my gutters or picks up after the dog? But leave my grass alone. Same with shoveling snow. They are both good exercise and leave me with a feeling of accomplishment. Just goes to show what a mundane life I lead.
Good questions, Chuck. If the robot can dock itself when it needs to be recharged, it could get by with a less aggressive battery. Could be the self-docking system is a recent innovation.
Reading these comments is as interesting as reading the article. I never knew there were so many robo mowers out there. Makes me wonder why I've never seen one patrolling a neighbor's yard!
Thanks for the link, Rob. I had no idea there were so many companies making robo-mowers. It's interesting to see how many are using lithium batteries. As I recall, the Friendly Robotics mower would dock itself and re-charge on its own. So what's the purpose of an expensive lithium battery? Is it for bigger lawns?
RW, the rain sensor and the automatic re-charging sound like great additional features. It will be interesting to see if this market takes off. With Honda's high price tag, it sounds like there is plenty of room for competition.
I haven't heard whether Friendly Robotics is still selling Robo-Mowers, Rob. I see they still have a web site, but they seem to have disappeared. There's an old saying that when it comes to innovation, it's better to be second, rather than first. That saying may apply here.
Very interesting indeed. But the cost is a big deal also. It takes as long to unroll the cord of my electric lawnmower as it doesto mow the lawn. So I do wonder about the value provided to me by an automated mowwer. For a 5 acre lawn it could make sense, but for a really small lawn even a powered mower is a stretch. Every once in a while though, it seems that it might be handy to have some robot do the mowing, mostly when the weather is really hot.
Yes when it finishes it follows the perimeter wire which runs under its dock. When it docks it hits two paddles which recharge the batteries.
It is fully programmable to go out and cut whenever you like. Any day any time. Mine goes out Monday, wednesday, friday at 2am by schedule, and then I manualy let it out once over the weekend as well during the day just to watch it run as its very ammusing lol.
It doesn't do well in the rain if you have hills as the tires slip. It has a rain sensor though that you can enable or disable. I enable the sensor since I have hills which means if it rains it doesnt go out that day. If you had a flat yard it would do just fine. The clippings it generates are so tiny that you dont end up clogging the mower up like an ordinary mower would after rain.
Good information, RW. Does it park itself when it has complete its rounds. Can you program it to awake every few days (say if you're on vacation)? How does it do in the rain (which could happen while you're sleeping).
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