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The Roomba lawnmower is finally happening
- brad0 8y agoIf you haven't watched the roombas spreading dog turds around the house on youtube I highly recommend it. I wonder what the equivalent of that will be for the outdoors? The safety implications worry me too. I'm surprised they don't discuss this in the article.
- gumby 8y agoThey've been on the market for years so if they were a real problem we'd know about it (they do run over some small wildlife; I posted a link on another thread). This is simply one company coming late to a crowded market and hoping for some press.
- EADGBE 8y agoWhen I step in dog turds outside I just wipe my shoe off in the grass. if (dogTurdContact) { wipe() } I'm sure this isn't nearly as much of a problem as it is indoors.
- nkurz 8y agoFrom what I can tell, robotic lawnmowers currently more common in Europe than in the US. I don't think I've ever seen one in the US, but in Norway they seemed to be everywhere. Is there a reason for this disparity?
- petermcneeley 8y agoSo interesting! Labor and capital(robotics) are substitutes. Thus in a cheap labor market (USA) anybody that would use a robot instead simply uses human landscapers. It is quite common in the USA to see humans doing what would be automated work in First world countries.
- nkurz 8y agoThat was my first thought, although I wasn't sure that would explain the vast numbers of Americans who mow their own lawns. Although maybe it does, if you squint a little harder? If labor prices were higher, maybe more people would choose to do more paid work instead of mowing their own lawn? I'm not sure though --- I think it might be that Americans tend to have a different relation to their lawns than Europeans. I was surprised to read that mowing your lawn on Sunday is illegal in Norway, with a silent robotic mower being a legal workaround: https://www.newsinenglish.no/2015/07/27/conflicts-arise-over-lawn-mowing-on-sundays/ https://www.newsinenglish.no/2015/07/27/conflicts-arise-over...
- JBReefer 8y agoThe USA is literally the definition of a First World country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World I get what you're going for, HN loves to hate on the US.
- craftyguy 8y agoMaybe they forgot an 'other': > It is quite common in the USA to see humans doing what would be automated work in other First world countries. I get what you're going for, HN loves to not give any benefit of doubt.
- robertAngst 8y agoIt takes me 10 minutes to mow my lawn, once a week. Are these safe enough to justify use?
- gumby 8y agoSo common that they are known to be a danger to wildlife (here's an article from US magazine wired that even says they are unknown in the US: https://www.wired.com/story/robot-lawnmowers-are-killing-hedgehogs/ https://www.wired.com/story/robot-lawnmowers-are-killing-hed... ) I don't know why they are uncommon here as lawns are just as popular as they are in other countries.
- Sir_Vival 8y agoI would guess our lawn sizes are larger on average. You have cities where there are no lawns, suburbs where they would have a use, and a lot of rural areas where the lawns are simply too large. It takes me 2 hours to mow my lawn using a riding lawnmower.
- gumby 8y agomulti acre yards are not uncommon in France, Germany and Australia, for example.