CES 2024: Lawnbots – New Robotic Vacuum Cleaners
Yard robots are nothing new—who can forget the Looj gutter-cleaning robot from the makers of Roomba? Of all the tasks many of us would like to outsource, those performed outside the company are among the first to come to mind. And if you have a robot for your pool and a robot for your gutters, why not have a robot do your mowing too? Clearly, this is the theory that big brands are operating on, as this year’s Consumer Electronic Show is already chock full of lawn care robots.
Outdoor answer to robot vacuum cleaner
Robotic lawn mowers are not something completely new. A number of brands have come and gone, and lawn mowers were also popular at last year’s CES, bringing us the LawnMeister , EcoFlow Blade , Landroid Vision and the Optimow AI robotic lawn mower . But the market is plagued by high costs, questionable reviews and uncertainty about allowing an extremely expensive and easily stolen lawn cat to roam freely in your yard. Despite these setbacks, I still believe that the great lawn robot of the future will come.
In theory, the fact that robotic lawn mowers are electric means they are better for the environment than their gas-powered counterparts. Think about how a robot vacuum cleaner paints the floor. Now apply this to your yard. Imagine being able to precisely plot a route so that the robot moves only where the lawn is – maximum efficiency, minimum energy consumption.
If you have both a pet and a robot vacuum, I know what you might be thinking: what about the poop problem? If you think animal feces are an inside problem, chances are the problem outside is even worse. Robot vacuum cleaners have made great strides in this area, using artificial intelligence and cameras to avoid cleaning the floor with your dog’s poop. Imagine a future where lawn robots can avoid these landmines too—and perhaps even pick them up and dispose of them in a poop container, just like our robot vacuum cleaners do with their self-emptying bases. Alas, we are not there yet.
For now, the robots unveiled this week at CES promise to alleviate only the main problem: self-mowing. So far we have seen Lymow LyCut , Ecovacs GOAT GX 600 , Mammotion Luba 2 and Aiper Horizon U1. Only the Luba 2 has a listed price, and it’s in line with previous lawn robots, meaning it’s high—$2,099 to be exact. More bots will be available later this year, either through company websites or Kickstarter.
What can these new lawncats do?
The Aiper Horizon U1 claims to improve on previous versions by using real-time kinematic positioning. The bot works as an internal GPS and has its own inertial navigation system. Like most ground-based roaming bots, it offers both obstacle avoidance and the ability to sense changing ground conditions, just like your floor bot knows the difference between tile and carpet. The user interface promises to cut 32,000 square feet of lawn (an entire lawn kingdom) and climb a 45% incline, which I’m not entirely sure I can do myself. Aiper has implemented wireless edges, which means we’re starting to free ourselves from treating these bots like dogs locked in an invisible fence of underground wires. Speaking of dogs, the Horizon has a pet prevention feature and fast charging. From a dock, the Horizon can run for about two and a half hours before needing a recharge. It’s about as loud as a leaf blower.
The LyMow LyCut has a 21-inch cutting width and adjustable height, and delivers the collision avoidance promised above. Its main innovation is the reciprocating blades, designed to help avoid clogs. Limou aims high, promising 100% slope, so if any of you have vertical lawns, check this out. Lycut uses ultrasonic radar and bumper sensors to avoid collisions (think Roomba, which measures obstacles by bumping into them). There are a lot more passive systems in robot vacuum cleaners, so this is an amazing feature in the new version. Just like your robot vacuums, Lycut offers the ability to create zones for either high-demand areas or low-trimming areas. It includes geofencing, so if he leaves the area for any reason – be it dreaming of greener pastures or running away – you’ll be warned. Battery life and capacity details are not yet known, and we can expect the Lymow to hit Kickstarter by the end of the first quarter.
Name points go to Ecovacs’ Goat GX 600 . To avoid the obstacles mentioned above, Ecovacs uses the same technology it has perfected in its internal bots to computationally identify grass and non-grass areas, and also employs AIVI 3D obstacle avoidance technology. Ecovacs already makes the Goat, the G1, which is also cordless and promises “centimeter-level precision.” We don’t know much about the GX 600, but you have to assume it’s based on the G1, which can climb a 45% grade and mow 6,000 square feet (seriously, who are these lawn land moguls?). The Goat Gx 600 will go on sale later this year.
Mammotion Luba 2 is now available for pre-order . With a more conservative climb (38 degrees), Luba promises to push hard through an incredible 2.5 acres of grass. It has adjustable lawn height, is completely wireless and uses 3D vision to navigate and avoid obstacles. As with the models above, you can set zones for this bot, which promises to last for a full three hours on an all-wheel drive system with beefy suspension and omni-wheels. Perhaps the smartest trick among all these lawn cats: Luba will let you choose a lawn design and even print it directly onto the lawn.
And lawns aren’t the only territory covered at CES: There are more bots for pools, leaves, and even composting. More details about these innovations coming soon.