Michael SatterfieldGrowing up on a ranch in Southern California, we had nearly two acres of grass, and it was my job to mow it all. It would take hours, and while it was always satisfying to see it done, and the $20 a week I earned for doing it paid for my first car, there is very little that I miss about mowing the grass. We didn’t have the option of a Husqvarna Automower.
These days, I am on the road lot, traveling for stories, conventions, and events. The lawn service we had often wouldn’t show up, and when they did, they didn’t always pay attention to the details. The final straw was when they crashed their riding lawnmower into the house, damaging the siding. So when the Husqvarna reached out to see if we would be interested in trying out the latest in robotic lawnmowers, I was excited. Not just because we wouldn’t have to deal with the lawn service but because the 10-year-old boy in me has always wanted robots to do my chores.
Installing the Husqvarna Automower
They shipped out the Husqvarna Automower, which arrived just a few days later via FedEx, and I just had to call to set up an installation appointment with the local Husqvarna dealer, Ace Service Center in Hearne, Texas. Keith from Ace came out and took some measurements, and set up a time to come back the following week to do the installation. In the meantime, we needed to contact the power and cable companies so they could mark where any underground cables were.
The next week, the Ace Hardware Team was on site to do the installation. The system uses a series of underground wires to keep the mower in specific areas of the yard; there is also a master guide wire that leads back to the base station where the mower docks and recharges. The cable laying tool used to install the wire doesn’t require large trenches to be dug, and the hole is just slightly wider than the wire itself. They even laid the wire to geo-fence the driveway so we don’t have to worry about the mower driving into a parked car. Installation took a few hours and after wiring up the base station, the mower was ready to get to work.
Our installer walked me through the Husqvarna Automower App on my phone, we set a schedule, the cutting height, and then set it loose on the lawn to start cutting the grass. While we watched it “feel” its way around the lawn, Keith told me about the history of the robotic lawnmower, which Husqvarna has been selling and developing in Europe since the mid-1990s, a surprising fact. Keith said it would take a few weeks for the mower to learn the yard and map it via GPS in addition to the geo-fencing. He also showed me before and after pictures of other lawns using the Automower, the constant cutting of the grass means the grass starts to grow outward instead of up, filling in bare patches and fertilizing the soil with the micro grass clippings.
Since posting images on Social Media of the Husqvarna Automower I have been getting a ton of comments and direct messages from people wanting to know more. Some of the biggest questions have revolved around it running over stuff in the yard, being picked up and stolen, and of course how long until it becomes self-aware and connects to Skynet.
Jack doesn’t really know what to make of the Husqvarna Automower
As far as running stuff over, the Husqvarna Automower uses tiny blades that are retractable, so it is not likely to cut anything but blades of grass, that is if it even gets past the very sensitive bump sensor that prevents it from running over most anything solid. With regards to theft issues, sure, there is always the risk of someone attempting to steal it, if it does get picked up, it automatically turns off, but it also sends an alert to my phone letting me know someone has taken it. Each Automower has a user-generated pin code that would be required to restart the mower, and it broadcasts its GPS location so the police can track it down. About the Rise of the Machines, it is best to just accept that it is inevitable and treat the Automower nicely until our roles are reversed.
Husqvarna Automower mows our lawn while the college student a few houses down suffers through the heat of Texas summer.
After a few weeks of living the Automower, I have been impressed, not only has the grass began to fill in like Keith said it would, but it has been virtually worry-free. The near-silent mower cuts at night without disturbing the neighbors or Jack (the dog). I will be doing regular updates on the Automower over the next few months, so check back for more.
If you would like to learn more about the Husqvarna Automower, they have a great YouTube video explaining the whole process and how the Automower works, or you can visit HusqvarnaUSA.com.
Stress-free lawn care is exactly what I need, I am going to have to check this out.