Rosie Cuts the Lawn

ONE COUPLE'S ADVENTURES IN ROBOTIC MOWING

- KARIN ROBISON

Suzanne Matta's phone pings with an alert. Rosie is upside down. A glance at the app finds where in the yard Rosie is stuck, and Suzanne runs outside. Rosie is catawampus under a big spruce.

"Oh my gosh, Rosie, are you okay?" Suzanne helps the little robot off a tree root. After checking that Rosie's four wheels touch ground, Suzanne taps a button, and Rosie toddles off to continue her silent work.

Rosie is not a living creature, but a robotic lawn mower about the size of a tortoise. To Suzanne, who refers to the machine as 'she,' Rosie is a much relied upon member of the household that feels very much like a pet. Suzanne named Rosie after the robotic maid in the 1960s cartoon show The Jetsons. A quasi-intelligent machine helping around the house? Far out. And Rosie helps quite a bit. The robot mows nearly an acre surrounding the Matta home.

Robotic mowing is not a new concept -a model was patented in 1972-but it hasn't been widely adopted in the United States. It certainly costs something to buy the equipment, and the installation process is not that easy, especially for models that require boundary wires. It helps to be a bit tech-savvy and willing to dig around on the Internet to troubleshoot the inevitable glitch. There is also a big gap in the market for servicing the equipment and providing homeowners with support. Still, there are situations where it makes sense to invest the funds and effort to set it up.

The Pluses