the roomba for your lawn: irobot unveils its 'terra mower'

following years of rumors, irobot has finally announced its robot lawnmower. meet the terra mower, an autonomous ‘roomba for lawns’.

images courtesy of irobot

irobot is best known for creating the infamous roomba line-up. terra uses the same mapping tech to trim grass so you don’t have to. simply place wireless beacons (shown below) and drive the bot once around the perimeter. just like a roomba, the terra mower will automatically make the rounds and return to a charging base when it needs some power. also like a roomba, terra can be used with the irobot home app to schedule lawn cutting, adjust the height of the grass and specify areas that are off-limits. 

‘irobot is building an ecosystem of robots and technologies that help people do more both inside and outside of the home,’ robot ceo colin angle said in a statement. ‘the robot mower segment is well established in emea (europe, the middle east, and africa) and has tremendous room for growth in other markets, including north america. with its ease of use and premium mowing features, terra is poised to give consumers a whole new way to think about how they take care of their lawn.’

don’t expect to buy a terra all that soon. there is no word on price but other manufacturers including honda, worx, husqvarna already have models on the market that range in price from about $600 to more than $2,800. irobot only promises to sell the mower sometime in 2019 and is only committed to launches in both germany and (in beta form) the US.