John Deere's TANGO E5 autonomous lawnmower
It's like a Roomba with blades?
Pah!
I just fly my quad upside down over the lawn and get the same result!
Autonomous? Well.. kinda: "This space has to be defined by a user/specialist dealer installed boundary wire that helps to keep the mower from heading across the road and visiting your neighbor’s petunia bed."
http://www.gizmag.com/john-deere-tango-e5-robot-lawnmower/22940/
Comments
FWIW the john deere brochure says lipos.
Yes, sealed lead-acid batteries. Robust, big and heavy.
I have an RL-850 Robomower, which is an older incarnation of the same device class: http://www.robomow.com/en-USA/
And yes, essentially it's a Roomba with blades. It has good safety features, though. For example, it only runs autonomously when inside the perimeter wire, with a signal on the wire. It stops when it bumps into anything, and it stops when tilted or lifted.
Like a roomba, it's stupid. It does two passes along the perimeter, and then randomly criss-crosses the lawn. It could definitely use a smart controller that gives it some pattern-navigation capability.