Hey folks,

Well I finally decided that I had better get a YouTube account and put up a few videos.

Here's a video of my mower - I had talked at this earlier in another thread so I finally decided to throw up a video. I'm now into my 3rd season of mowing with this mower.

100% automated, it leaves at a preset time, and mows the yard so I don't have to. There is a perimeter wire that runs around my yard so it doesn't go into the neighbors area. Once it's finished on the front right, it does the front left of my yard, and then I put it back in the back yard where it remains for much of the week. It has an automatic charging station so that when the battery runs out, it goes back to it's base and recharges.

Anyway - here's the video - (all 23 seconds) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnMgmpTZ1mg

NICE! That's actually pretty freaking awesome..

I also found this video with more info. Is this the one you have?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MTL3uGGWhw&NR=1

Awesome. How long does it take to go through and cut the whole lawn?

Any neighbors that wanted to make a steal attempt?

Seems like a nice idea..somehow think I'll need the equivalent of a robot army to tackle my 12 acres here in the uk.. would be rather impressive although the John Deere takes over a day while cutting/collecting at 25mph :| wonder how many Id need

Yep, Friendly Robotics is who makes it. My model was from 2008/2009 and is the RL1000. It's a little more advanced in that not only can you program it to mow at certain times, but you can also designate zones for it to mow.

When it first goes around the perimiter, it maps the yard in gray scale. Then it tracks where it has been and where it needs to go next. This allows it to go back to the charging station to recharge and then come back out to the missed areas and make sure it covers them. My mower operates every day (usually 5-8am for the back yard) and then I mow every 3rd day or so for the front yard.

Running time I get about 4 hours out of it after a 12 hour charge and it's enough time to cover the entire back yard - big yard. Maybe I'll grab a video of that here tomorrow or the next day. They say it will do 5400 sq ft yard in just under 3 hours and can handle a 1 acre lot. I'm on a 8200 sq ft lot. I'd guess the back yard is at least the 5500 range.

The only thing that I have to do manually is the edging which I usually get done on the weekends etc.

One other feature of the RL1000 is that it has a rain sensor, so if the mower detects that the ground is wet, it will not mow. If has a temperature guage also which I have set at 90F so that if it's too warm, it won't mow (I don't need burnt grass).

As for theft - I haven't had anyone try anything. There is a GPS Tracking device on it (the machine is only about 70lbs), but it has a code on the handset that if it's outside of it's HOME area then you have to enter the code. So even if it's 5ft outside of the wire, it shuts down and will not move unless you enter the code.

It's become quite a show stopper sometimes. I've had the cops show up at the yard just to watch the mower and various kids and neighbors stop and point from time to time. My neighbor on my left is quite happy for me to mow his side of the front yard also so he doesn't have to do it. My other neighbor on the other hand is very particular about his yard

It looks like the price has come down on the mower, but it's still in the $2200-2500 range.

Still, it's one of my better investments. I get greener grass (as the system mulches the grass back to the ground) and since it never cuts in the same direction twice, that's better for the grass too.

You know, I have seen a video of a golf course that uses an army of them. You can program them to do certain areas etc. But if you stagger the mowing, you could do 2 acres a day, preprogrammed and that would mean that each week it would come back to hit the first section again of course, if you want it all done in a day, well get ready to open that pocket book Of course once the wheel gets stuck in a rutt (especially in a field) you'd be dead in the water Better get out one of the new Combine Harvesters that have full GPS automation on them.

WARNING: My suggestion to use a combine to mow a field unintended is for entertainment purposes only. Any such person actually starting a $500,000 unit and attempting to mow/plow/harvest a field unattended does so at their own risk. Hands-on Web Hosting, Conor Treacy and Hosting Discussion, their officers and members take NO RESPONSIBILITY of any individual being stupid enough to undertake the task!!

How does this work around trees and at what angle will it shut down (for hills)?

Yes, I think it does according to this video. Which is I think is the same model Conor has.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MTL3uGGWhw&NR=1


Pretty crazy! The future is here, soon we will have robots that will drive our kid's school buses!

I have two methods for the trees;

1) I wire around one of my trees as it has an extensive root system that tempts the mower to try and climb the tree So I wire around that one and the mower just stays away from it

2) The other tree that I have (and also the firepit) I don't wire around it. The mower has sensors on it so that if it bumps into something, it stops the blades and moves a different direction. This is great if a branch falls in the yard, the dog is lying down somewhere or any other potential hazard.

Also, someone on facebook asked about sound - it's pretty quiet. It would sound like a swarm of bees for up to 15 feet away.

My dogs wouldn't get anywhere near that thing. As soon as it started to move, they'd be by the door wanting in.