While iRobot is known as one of the biggest names in the robovac game, it’s now expanding to outside your home. After what seems like years of speculation, the brand is officially unveiling its first robotic lawn mower. The iRobot Terra enters an increasingly crowded category in hopes of offering a more affordable alternative to the pricier options out there. Head below for more on the latest from iRobot.
iRobot Terra arrives as a new robo lawn mower
iRobot certainly is a natural fit for this category, with its extensive lineup of robotic vacuums. Terra uses a lot of the same technology to help maintain your lawn. Of course, iRobot is promising that cutting your lawn will be as easy as its autonomous vacuums make cleaning your home.
“iRobot is building an ecosystem of robots and technologies that help people do more both inside and outside of the home,” said Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot. “The robot mower segment is well established in EMEA 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.”
Terra is slightly larger than those robovacs but not by much. It will use the same patterned navigation to make its way across your property. Every robotic lawn mower on the market utilizes some kind of location-based sensors to make sure it stays within your property. For pricier models, that’s GPS. But iRobot is going with movable radio beacons built into metal stakes as a means for keeping your mower on track. After a minimum of two beacons are set up, you’ll need to manually drive Terra around your property to get a lay of the land. Users will also be able to note areas that should be avoided during the year.
The benefit of iRobot’s setup process, according to them at least, is that you can drop the lawn mower anywhere within your property and it will automatically navigate as appropriate. Other robotic lawn mowers on the market generally need to start on their dock to accurately navigate any property.
Who is iRobot’s Terra for?
Depending where the list price ultimately falls, this could be a very attractive entry-point for first-time buyers. It’s hard to imagine that iRobot is able to push the MSRP down below $1,000 but even slightly above that number makes it one of the best options out there from strictly a price perspective.
iRobot is expected to unleash Terra in Germany first during Q3 before bringing it to the United States on an invitation-only beta experience soon after. It is expected to be available globally in early 2020, according to iRobot.
Source: iRobot
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