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.
As a skeptic/contrarian/curmudgeon/naysayer/etc, I can see a bunch of dark edges. Like if you have a team of these, you might want to invest in some security to keep your $3000 toys from running off with the neighbor kids! That said (and a lot of stuff unsaid), I have to admit that this little product delights me. Probably not good for my hilly lawn. Probably only good for golf greens, etc... I'd still love to see one in action. :-) And as we creep toward the enlightened Buck Rogers future (where they promised us jet packs!), it's cool, expensive, slightly-useful toys like this one that will pave the way. Sure it's based on the Roomba, and sure they'll probably have a lawsuit or two to deal with. But it's PLENTY COOL. Made me think out of the box a little. What about a Wallba, a robot that creeps over your walls and gradually paints them, eliminating ANOTHER chore that nobody likes doing but everybody wants done!
Conceptually, of course, it's an attractive notion.... pragmatically, however, I doubt that I can endorse it. I would have serious concerns, regardless of sophistication of object detection logic, related to leaving an unattended object with whirling blades roving unsupervised in my yard. I doubt that my homeowners insurance agent would approve either. (I would certainly have to bring the dog inside!) Beyond the issues of liability, I seriously doubt that any algorithm (at least none that I can imagine - been an embedded programmer for 30 years...) would successfully navigate and attend to the nuances of yard-flush flower beds, irregularly shaped swimming pool aprons, etc.
I suspect I would spend a lot of time mopping up all of the missed areas and explaining to my wife where the tulips have gone!
Since it is being manufactured in France, it might be expedient to wait a while to buy one just to get one that works. On the positive side, it wasn't designed in France (I hope).
I saw this article about the Miimo, and it says the price point is about $2600.00. With a price like that, it will be a while before we see neighborhoods transformed by roving bands of robotic mowers. From a liability standpoint, it's probably okay for the back yard, but leaving something like this running around unattended in the front yard is just asking for trouble. I'll stick my my traditional mower.
roThe article says that the robot works by a 'perimeter wire', which I take to mean that you will be implanting a wire in the ground around the area you want to be mowed, so your tulips are safe (unless you want them gone). This gives rise to the question, what about small circular flower areas within a lawn? Can you put a perimeter wire around the whole area and then around every area with flowers within the large perimeter? At which point will this little toe-clippiing machine get confused?
Astroturf is green all year round. No maintenance. No need for $2600 robot mower. You don't have to hear whining from your kid because you will never ask (tell) him or her to mow or weed. The city water conservationists will be happy as well. How can you top that?
You didn't read the part where, as soon as it leaves the ground it shuts down and cannot be re-started without a PIN entry? Just like the fancy car radios which are no longer being stolen because they self-disable when removed from the dash.
There is a certain coolness factor in owning a lawn mowing robot. Certainly, you could program it to chase the cats and dogs off your property for obvious reasons.
By refining topologies and using new fluid technology, Moog's new peak sine drive controller increases available power without increasing controller volume.
Two new introductions in the world of motion drives for automation are moving toward use of standard Ethernet communications, eliminating the use of custom hardware.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
3 
