iRobot Announces Hands-Free Robotic Lawn Mower Called Terra

iRobot, the company known for making the Roomba, some of the best robotic vacuum cleaners out there, is looking to jump into the lawn care game with the announcement of Terra. Much like the company’s selection of indoor cleaners, this device will automatically cut its way around your yard, making for one less chore that you need to do manually.

Not sure if something like this is for you? Trust us, you should be using a robot vacuum to clean your house!

iRobot Terra Features

The main thing iRobot is touting about its new robot lawn mower is the high-end mapping and navigation technologies. The company talked about its iRobot’s Imprint Smart Mapping tech, which allows the device to mow the grass in the same way people do—with a straight back and forth pattern. It will also remember where it is in the yard, and how much space in the yard it has left to do.

Like Roomba vacuums, Terra will automatically return to its base to recharge when the battery runs low, and then it will resume cutting where it left off.

As far as what makes this stand out from other robotic lawn mowers already on the market, iRobot said in a press release that it eliminates “the need for costly and labor-intensive boundary wires.”

Instead, the setup process actually sounds pretty painless and doesn’t seem like it will require any professional installation. Apparently, you just need to place several wireless beacons around the outside of the yard, drive Terra around the edge of the yard once, and then schedule it to mow.

In the press release, Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot, spoke about the future of robotic lawn care:

iRobot is building an ecosystem of robots and technologies that help people do more both inside and outside of the home. The robot mower segment is well established in EMEA and has tremendous room for growth in other markets, including North America. With its ease of use and premium mowing features, Terra is poised to give consumers a whole new way to think about how they take care of their lawn.

When Can You Buy the iRobot Terra and How Much Will It Be?

Unfortunately, iRobot didn’t release any pricing information as of the time of this writing, though we certainly wouldn’t expect Terra to be very budget-friendly, based on the prices of Roomba vacuums.

However, we do know that it’ll be available in Germany and as a beta program in the U.S. this year, though the company didn’t narrow down exactly when to expect it in 2019. Logically, one would think they’d want to release it before the summer in the northern hemisphere since that’ll be the time when people would actually use a device like this.

Don’t forget about the robot vacuum we actually called one of the best—the iLife a7.

Read the full article: iRobot Announces Hands-Free Robotic Lawn Mower Called Terra

from MakeUseOf http://bit.ly/2DJqktb