Consumer Reports, the nation's leading consumer magazine, reviewed in its May 2008 issue two robotic lawnmowers, the Robomower RL1000 from Friendly Robotics and the LawnBott LB3200 Evolution and didn't like either of them.
The magazine judged the LawnBott "Not Acceptable" because of what it judged to be a safety hazard. The magazine said the blades continued to turn until the mower was lifted to a 45 degree angle, and then took five seconds to stop -- plenty of time for injury.
The RL1000 took less than a second to stop and at a lower angle, but Consumer Reports didn't like it's performance as a cutting machine, and said that the manufacturer recommends that you supervise the machine while it is running, so it isn't as big a timesaver as they claim because it can take 4 hours to mow a half-acre lawn.
Myself, I'm not the biggest fan of Consumer Reports' reviews of technology-related products (I thought they were dead wrong and frankly stupid in their review of the Scooba robotic mop), but safety is going to be an absolute key issue that iRobot will have to knock out of the park if and when it brings a robotic lawnmower to market. I'd like to see the stats in the meantime on injuries from robotic lawnmowers versus push mowers and tractors. My understanding is that robotic lawnmowers have a MUCH better safety record, while regular mowers regularly chop off body parts of drivers who lose their balance, etc.
The link.
Tags: iRobot, robot,
Tags: Robomower, Lawnbott
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