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_______________________________________________________________ Report Information from ProQuest February 03 2014 14:34 _______________________________________________________________

Document 1 of 1 ROBOTS CUT GRASS WITH CLASS Author: MacRae, Michael ProQuest document link Abstract: Autonomous mowers are a great way to show your neighbors your technological sophistication and lawn-keeping savvy at the same time. They're energy-efficient, programmable, and cleaner-cutting than regular combustion-engine mowers. Robotic mowers are the outdoor answer to the popular robotic vacuum cleaners such as the Roomba. Their guidance systems also range in sophistication from GPS-controlled, fully autonomous navigation to the more conventional approach of pre-set mowing patterns executed within a perimeter. Bump and tilt sensors halt the robot when it approaches anything that should not be cut. Since their debut a decade ago, robotic mowers have been cutting a swath to the top of the high-end mower market. The robo-mower field is growing like a weed in Europe, with a 30% sales increase last year and steady double-digit growth projected in the next several years, Bloomberg News reports. Priced anywhere from $1,500 to over $5,000, robotic mowers are setting mainly to universities, sports facilities, and businesses with heavy-duty landscaping needs. Links: Linking Service, Find it @ UAB Full text: Headnote SOME HOMEOWNERS LOVE THE ART AND SCIENCE OF LAWN CARE. Others are OK watching the dandelions grow from the comfort of a hammock. Both camps will find something to appreciate in the latest generation of cutting-edge robotic grass cutters. Autonomous mowers are a great way to show your neighbors your technological sophistication and lawnkeeping savvy at the same time. On the other hand, they free up summer weekends for those who can't or don't want to spend their leisure time pushing a gas-guzzling mower. They're energy-efficient, programmable, and cleaner-cutting than regular combustion-engine mowers. They start, steer, and recharge themselves-and even put themselves away. They have something for everyone, except those (and you know who you are) who really, really like mowing the lawn. Robotic mowers are the outdoor answer to the popular robotic vacuum cleaners such as the Roomba (from iRobot, Bedford, Mass.). Just as the robovac dashes around the floor sucking up foreign particles, robot mowers crisscross their way around the yard, nibbling away at the grass within an area defined either by an installed perimeter wire or by their own sensations of where and where not to cut. Although made by nearly a dozen different manufacturers around the world, they look a lot alike (think of a giant beetle] and share many of the same operating principles. They vary by blade design and material, battery type (lead-acid, nickel-cadmium, or lithium ion), user programmability, and capabilities for handling slopes, tight turns, and so forth. Their guidance systems also range in sophistication from GPScontrolled, fully autonomous navigation to the more conventional approach of pre-set mowing patterns executed within a perimeter. Bump and tilt sensors halt the robot when it approaches anything that should not be cut. Since their debut a decade ago, robotic mowers have been cutting a swath to the top of the high-end mower market. The robo-mower field is growing like a weed in Europe, with a 30 percent sales increase last year and steady double-digit growth projected in the next several years, Bloomberg News reports. Customers are most receptive in nations where the window for summer leisure is the shortest, the cost of professional lawn service is the highest, and the economy has been the most resilient. Robots also are tending the greens in growing numbers across Australia and New Zealand. It remains a niche market in the lawn-carecrazy U.S., but early-

adopting gear techies, green-power aficionados, and people with physical limitations are joining the ranks of fellow American robo-mower owners. Big-name mower makers like Bosch, John Deere, Honda, and Husqvarna-which was first to market with an autonomous mower in 1995-share the field with robotics-focused specialists including Belrobotics (Wavre, Belgium), Friendly Robotics (Pardesiya, Israel), and Ambrogio Robot (Arezzo, Italy). Priced anywhere from $1,500 to over $5,000, robotic mowers are selling mainly to universities, sports facilities, and businesses with heavy-duty landscaping needs. But innovation and competition are creating options in the consumer price range. The market for bots that do dirty or dangerous household jobs like cleaning the pool, scrubbing the floors, and cleaning the gutters is a fast-growing robotics industry bright spot. The International Federation of Robotics projects that sales of home robots could reach $4.8 billion, or 11 million units sold, by 2015. User safety has been a concern with lawn mowing since the task was first mechanized. In 2010, more than 235,000 adults and 17,000 children in the U.S. were injured by lawn mowers, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The robotic era has come with its own problems. In 2007, the U.S. CPSC and Kyodo America voluntarily recalled about 530 LawnBott mowers sold between 2006 and 2007 because their cutting blades continued to rotate when the mower was lifted from the ground, creating a risk of a foot getting past the shielding and into their cutting path. LawnBott's manufacturer, Ambrogio, has redesigned the recalled mowers and remains a market leader. Michael Letsky, founder of RoboLabs in Pompano Beach, Fla., invented his SmartMow robot mower to advance the robotics field while protecting kids like his own from lawn mower injuries. His first SmartMow, invented in 2007, sold about 300 units that year. "We validated that there actually was a market," Letsky said. "We learned people wanted a mower that is safe to use and highly robust. "Our state-of-the-art proximity detection technology is like a proximity force field around the mower that stops the blades in a fraction of a second if anything gets too close." Whatever you call this new generation of labor-savers, the future is sure to be sunny for any technology promising to relieve homeowners of the summertime chore they most love to hate. ME Sidebar OUR STATE-OF-THE-ART PROXIMITY DETECTION TECHNOLOGY IS LIKE A PROXIMITY FORCE FIELD AROUND THE MOWER THAT STOPS THE BLADES IN A FRACTION OF A SECOND IF ANYTHING GETS TOO CLOSE." -Michael letsky, RoboLabs founder AuthorAffiliation MICHAEL MacRAE/ASME.ORG Subject: Lawn & garden equipment; Robotics; Sensors; Location: United States--US Classification: 9190: United States; 8670: Machinery industry Publication title: Mechanical Engineering Volume: 135 Issue: 9 Pages: 12,19 Number of pages: 2

Publication year: 2013 Publication date: Sep 2013 Year: 2013 Section: TECH BUZZ Publisher: American Society of Mechanical Engineers Place of publication: New York Country of publication: United States Publication subject: Engineering--Mechanical Engineering ISSN: 00256501 CODEN: MEENAH Source type: Scholarly Journals Language of publication: English Document type: Feature Document feature: Photographs ProQuest document ID: 1444064494 Document URL: http://fetch.mhsl.uab.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1444064494?accountid=8240 Copyright: Copyright American Society of Mechanical Engineers Sep 2013 Last updated: 2013-10-23 Database: ABI/INFORM Complete

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