In today’s society, we have come to a point where we involve technology in every daily activity that we conduct; with the task of lawn mowing being no exception. At first glance, it might seem like there’s not much going on in this area, but behind the scenes, things are a whole lot different. The industry has been going through a lot of improvements in recent years, and the technological offering for lawn mowing services is growing day by day.
In this article, we’ll list some of the latest and most popular technologies that you can use for your lawn mowing activities.
Robotic lawn mowers
Imagine having an actual robot mowing your lawn while you’re enjoying a lemonade in your backyard. Well, now it’s possible to do this because there are numerous companies out there that can sell you just such a product. With the use of sophisticated sensors and remote control capabilities, this machine is programmed to do the lawn mowing for you, while you control its movements and prevent it from stumbling over obstacles.
The main advantage of this technology is, obviously, the fact that you don’t have to physically do the tiresome task. Companies like Robomow have been promoting this technology for a good number of years, while there’s a ton of other companies, like Honda and Flymo, that are are also offering consumers their robotic products.
Remote control systems
An automated irrigation system has become a necessary asset for one’s lawn. With the flexibility offered by the internet of things (IoT), you are able to take care of watering the lawn simply through the use of a mobile app. Remote controlling your irrigation system isn’t the only thing that you can automate; you can also schedule when you want the system to activate, which means that you don’t have to worry about irrigation while not being home. You can also control your mowing robot in the same manner. Technology makes it possible for all of these features to be accessible while just using your smartphone.
High-Tech Sprinklers
The overuse of water from sprinkler systems contributes to an approximate 850 billion gallons of water waste that ends up in sewers each year. By using a low-flow sprinkler, you’re actually using a system that doesn’t allow more than 30 gallons of water per hour. The main advantage of this technology consists in the fact that it can be a great way to save money on your water bill. Installing one such system can have great benefits for the grass and the plants in your garden. Check the video below from Rachio as an example.
Rain Sensors
Chances are, that if you have an automated irrigation system installed, you’ve already programmed it to activate itself at certain times. The issue arises when it’s raining outside while your irrigation system is activated. That would be nothing but a waste of water, right? The main advantage of adding a sprinkler rain sensor to your automated system is that it makes the system stop watering whenever it senses high humidity. It’s also programmed to turn back on whenever it detects the surface is dry.
Not only do you save money on your water bill, but you are also being environmentally friendly by using this smart irrigation system. There are some other types of sensors out there, including freeze sensors, wind sensors, and flow sensors. The purpose of these sensors is to ensure that your automated irrigation system works according to the meteorological conditions, in order to avoid water waste and to ensure maximum efficiency.
Fully autonomous lawn care robots
This technology comes as an extension for the one mentioned previously. The difference with this is that it doesn’t need to be controlled by a human through an app. Actually, you don’t even need to charge this device, as it activates itself with solar power, the second the sun goes down.
Whenever it doesn’t have enough solar power left, it just goes back to its place and waits for the sun to come out so it can charge again. Also, this machine is smart enough to be able to go over obstacles, not needing guidance, while trimming the grass precisely and keeping it that way at all times. There are a few companies utilizing this autonomous technology, but there’s still a long way to go until it becomes a common sight in households.
In the digital era that we live in, it has become impractical for someone to spend too much time taking care of their lawn. Unless you have enough money to hire someone to take care of it, you’re better off investing in some new tech. Not only you’ll end up saving more money as time goes by, but you’ll also save more time. With the pace at which technology advances nowadays, we can only expect more and more improvements that would highly impact the way we take care of our lawns. Here’s an example product video from the robotics startup Kobi.
This guest article has been provided by Charles Johnson Williams as a column for TechAcute. This article reflects the author’s views and is built on his opinion and experiences. It is not necessarily the view of the editorial office.
Photo credit: The feature image has been provided as part of a press release from Honda and was distributed for editorial purposes.
