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A comment on The Roomba for Lawns Is Really Pissing Off Astronomers. Parent comment

Re:The Roomba for Lawns Is Really Pissing Off Astronomers by ptaipale on Thursday April 16, 2015 @11:09AM (#9388447)
Stiga has been making robot mowers for quite a while, and I haven't heard of drunken Swedes who would have been hacked to death by their mowers after passing out on their lawn.

Apparently animals will run away and sprinkler heads can be marked with perimeter wire so that the gadget avoids them.

http://www.stiga.com/products/stiga_en/robot-mowers.html

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Re:The Roomba for Lawns Is Really Pissing Off Astronomers by josefresco on Thursday April 16, 2015 @11:23AM (#9388576)
I have sprinkler heads all over my lawn, if the lawn mower avoided them I'd have patches of long grass. My sprinkler heads will routinely get stuck in the "up" position due to sand/dirt that gets stuck in the sliding mechanism.

This actually seems solvable by robotics, but it's not a viable solution for beacons or markers as they are meant to be "passed over" by lawn mowers.

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Re:The Roomba for Lawns Is Really Pissing Off Astronomers by jkmcf on Thursday April 16, 2015 @12:38PM (#9389083)
Right now, Stiga is wondering WTF is going on with their website.
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