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Astronomers declare war on lawn mowing robots
http://natmonitor.com/2015/04/18/astronomers-declare-war-on-lawn-mowing-robots/
Astronomers declare war on lawn mowing robots
By Justin Beach, National Monitor | April 18, 2015
The iRobot company and scientists who use radio telescopes are drawing battle lines across your lawn.
In a story that sounds like it could be borrowed from bad science fiction, astronomers are getting ready to do battle with the iRobot corporation over their new lawn mowing robots.
The makers of the Roomba, vacuum cleaning robot, iRobot is working on a similar device used to mow lawns. While it might sound like a great idea, so far, to most people astronomers are concerned about potential interference with very expensive telescopes.
The problem comes, not from the robots themselves but from devices used to tell the robots when to stop. A lawn mowing robot becomes much less useful, after all, if it also mows the flower bed and then takes off down the street threatening small animals in the neighbourhood.
FCC filings, originally spotted by IEEE Spectrum, show that the company is currently in the design phase of creating the robots. In February, iRobot filed a waiver request with the FCC, asking for a waiver that would allow them to use part of the radio spectrum to guide the robots.
The company wants to use stakes, driven into the ground to help the lawnbot learn the lay of the land, with the average person needing four to nine beacons depending on the shape of the property. The alternative, according to iRobot is to dig a trench around the properties perimeter to lay a wire that would serve as a guide.
The company wants to use the frequency band between 6240 and 6740 MHz, which is a frequency that several large radio telescopes use. Astronomers use the frequency to observe methanol, which is plentiful in stellar nurseries.
<snip>
Astronomers declare war on lawn mowing robots
By Justin Beach, National Monitor | April 18, 2015
The iRobot company and scientists who use radio telescopes are drawing battle lines across your lawn.
In a story that sounds like it could be borrowed from bad science fiction, astronomers are getting ready to do battle with the iRobot corporation over their new lawn mowing robots.
The makers of the Roomba, vacuum cleaning robot, iRobot is working on a similar device used to mow lawns. While it might sound like a great idea, so far, to most people astronomers are concerned about potential interference with very expensive telescopes.
The problem comes, not from the robots themselves but from devices used to tell the robots when to stop. A lawn mowing robot becomes much less useful, after all, if it also mows the flower bed and then takes off down the street threatening small animals in the neighbourhood.
FCC filings, originally spotted by IEEE Spectrum, show that the company is currently in the design phase of creating the robots. In February, iRobot filed a waiver request with the FCC, asking for a waiver that would allow them to use part of the radio spectrum to guide the robots.
The company wants to use stakes, driven into the ground to help the lawnbot learn the lay of the land, with the average person needing four to nine beacons depending on the shape of the property. The alternative, according to iRobot is to dig a trench around the properties perimeter to lay a wire that would serve as a guide.
The company wants to use the frequency band between 6240 and 6740 MHz, which is a frequency that several large radio telescopes use. Astronomers use the frequency to observe methanol, which is plentiful in stellar nurseries.
<snip>
9 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Californian speaking here. 
