The LawnBott from Kyodo America is a pretty nifty lawn mower robot; it has the unique feature of taking orders from your cell phone via Bluetooth.
(LawnBott demonstration video)
This device is rather pricey at $3,249; you can add even more to the price (just like you can with a high-end laptop) by adding more lithium-ion batteries. You can even add a Mad Max touch by accessorizing it with spiked wheels - cheap at $79.
This device takes me all the way back to 1944; in his prescient novella City, Clifford Simak describes the joys of the robotic lawn mower. Follow the link below to see a much-needed feature for robot lawn mowers.
Gramp Stevens sat in a lawn chair, watching the mower at work, feeling the warm, soft sunshine seep into his bones. The mower reached the edge of the lawn, clucked to itself like a contented hen, made a neat turn and trundled down another swath. The bag holding the clippings bulged.
(Read more about the robot lawn mower)
Read more at NY Times; thanks to Moira for the tip on the robot mower.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/15/2008)
Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!' - Ray Cummings, 1931.
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.' - Neal Asher, 2008.
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Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
Orb Nomad Zero-Emission Electric Aircraft
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'