A roboticlawn mower is an autonomous robot used to cutlawn grass. A typical robotic lawn mower requires the user to set up a border wire around the lawn that defines the area to be mowed. The robot uses this wire to locate the boundary of the area to be trimmed and in some cases to locate a recharging dock. Robotic mowers are capable of maintaining up to of grass. Robotic lawn mowers are increasingly sophisticated, are self-docking and some contain rain sensors if necessary, nearly eliminating human interaction. Robotic lawn mowers represented the second largest category of domestic robots used by the end of 2005. In 2012, the growth of robotic lawn mower sales was 15 times that of the traditional styles. With the emergence of smart phones some robotic mowers have integrated features within custom apps to adjust settings or scheduled mowing times and frequency, as well as manually control the mower with a digital joystick. Modern robotic lawn mowers can contain specialized sensors, allowing them to automatically mow around obstacles or even go to sleep when it starts to rain. The vast majority of robotic lawn mowers tackle the task utilizing a "random" mowing system. Basically the machine bounces around on the lawn until it hits the boundary wire limiting the working area, then changes heading until it hits the wire again. Depending on the lawn size, this might take a very long time, so the machine must more or less be in continuous operations. Exceptions are the Bosch the "Indego" and The Toadi Orders' "Toadi".
History
In 1969, the MowBot is introduced and patented by S Lawrence Bellinger and already showing many features of today's most popular products. It weighted, was selling for $800 and had an autonomy of 3 hours and In 1992, the first fully solar powered robotic mower is patented by André Collens and sold to Husqvarna which markets it in 1995. In 2012, the Bosch Indego introduced lawn mapping, to mow in a systematic manner instead of a random pattern. As of 2019, vision-based robotic mowers, without perimeter wire, were announced.
Technology
The mower can find its charging station via radio frequency emissions, by following a boundary wire, or by following an optional guide wire. This can eliminate wear patterns in the lawn caused by the mower only being able to follow one wire back to the station. To get to remote areas or areas only accessible through narrow passages the mower can follow a guide wire or a boundary wire out of the station. Batteries used include nickel–metal hydride, lithium-ion and lead-acid. In 2017 The Toadi Order started developing their 'Toadi'. Toadi is the first robot mower that uses artificial intelligence to drive around and mow. This also enables the robot to mow without a perimeter cable or GPS. In 2019 an all-wheel-drive drive robotic mower was released by Husqvarna.
