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Lawns, Rants & Robot Mowers | Tech Knowledgy

• Barbara & Teja Arboleda • Episode 88

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In this episode, Teja goes full rant-mode on the eternal curse of yard work. Barbara has a high-tech solution: robotic lawn mowers. They exist. One is even guided by satellites, but it costs more than your first car.

Barbara and Teja roll through the surprisingly competitive world of robotic lawn care—from fancy GPS-guided lawnbots to slightly more “budget-friendly” options. The real question is: would a cat ride one like it’s a grass-trimming Roomba?

How far will we go for the dream of sipping lemonade while the robots do all the yard work? Tune in and find out.

Find us on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok: @loidunk

SPEAKER_00:

As a homeowner. Homeowner? Homeowner. As a homeowner, there are a number of things that I don't really appreciate having to do on a regular basis. One of them is mowing the lawn. I don't like anything about yard work.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah. Not a not a yard person.

SPEAKER_00:

You when we bought our first house, you were adamant. I am allergic to all things green in the ground. Well, not I didn't believe that at first.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm not allergic. I just tend to kill them unintentionally.

SPEAKER_00:

You go out and murder plants in the middle of the night?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't mean to.

SPEAKER_00:

But it I mean just like weeding.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh yeah, there's so many things that I could think of to do with my time. That is better than that.

SPEAKER_00:

As if I don't? As if I can't?

SPEAKER_01:

No, well, somehow we get complicated yards. Well, how did we get con? So we started out our first house.

SPEAKER_00:

You used to say you were allergic.

SPEAKER_01:

We bought our well, I am somewhat allergic, but remember I laid down in the grass and I got a full body rash.

SPEAKER_00:

That was psychological.

SPEAKER_01:

It was not. Okay, so we buy our first house, and there's all of these beautiful plants there. And I'm looking at them skeptically. And the real estate agent says they're all perennials. So it's really, you know, it is minimal upkeep. You don't really have to do anything. They come up year after year, they're all timed beautifully. It's wonderful.

SPEAKER_00:

Timed, meaning that she planted them in such a way.

SPEAKER_01:

So the different things like fireworks. Beautiful. Fireworks. Absolutely beautiful. And it was a lie.

SPEAKER_00:

A complete lie.

SPEAKER_01:

It was a lie.

SPEAKER_00:

Because it was a lot of work.

SPEAKER_01:

Because we talked to our neighborhood.

SPEAKER_00:

There's no way we'd be able to keep that up.

SPEAKER_01:

No. And we didn't. And the the the years we owned that house, it started out gorgeous and then slowly started to like deteriorate. We talked to our neighbor. Was it a few months later or something? Who then said, oh yeah, she was out doing out in the yard doing yard work every day.

SPEAKER_00:

Single day.

SPEAKER_01:

Every day.

SPEAKER_00:

Who has that kind of time?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, she must have been retired or something. I don't know. Maybe that's it. It has to be that.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_01:

And then that's how she wanted to spend her time. Whereas I would rather write, read, sing, anything but that.

SPEAKER_00:

Me too.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I also don't like the yard work, but I somehow became responsible for all the yard work. And yet what?

SPEAKER_01:

And yet.

SPEAKER_00:

And yet?

SPEAKER_01:

Who ended up having many, many plants somehow planted in our yard?

SPEAKER_00:

Who had many plants?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it was your idea to make it all fancy in our in this house.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, in the new house. In this house. Well, it's not new anymore, but um because I need to do something with it. What else are we gonna do? It put concrete down?

SPEAKER_01:

No, but now we have, I mean, it's pretty, but it's all kinds of plants that we don't know how to take care of.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And then there's the grass.

SPEAKER_01:

Right, the grass.

SPEAKER_00:

I am not an advocate for grass just because of grass. It's like I'm not like gonna put fertilizer down, certainly not any, you know, harsh chemical fertilizer, uh, just so that the grass will come up greener and more and like, you know, I was gonna say fruity, but it's not fruity.

SPEAKER_01:

No, no.

SPEAKER_00:

Not even fluffy.

SPEAKER_01:

I think you know it's um cushiony. Cushiony.

SPEAKER_00:

Cushiony. Like I don't need that.

SPEAKER_01:

Grass, crab grass, as long as it's green, or as long as it's a lot, green. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

That's fine. It's hard. It's hardy. And hardy. It can withstand the heat, it can withstand the cold. And so, you know, I end up mowing some of it and then using a weed whacker for the rest of it.

SPEAKER_01:

And then in California, we saw a bunch of people with those like fake grass.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, they even like spray paint their spray paint their dry grass with with green which that's a little weird. But it makes sense. Because if your only objective is to have green, you don't actually don't know. It's not really well, it's not like they hang out in their yard in LA. It's too hot.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's true. It's too hot.

SPEAKER_00:

That's true.

SPEAKER_01:

I know. But they're the fake grass stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and you can't mow fake grass, which is actually better. Just stays that way. Might as well get astroturf.

SPEAKER_01:

Which is kind of what it is.

SPEAKER_00:

Or like a grass carpet. You know how some people have grass carpets.

SPEAKER_01:

Right, but that's what they do. Oh, right. The grass carpet out there.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01:

And then they don't have to mow.

SPEAKER_00:

But it's much easier.

SPEAKER_01:

In the Boston area where winters get sludgy and slushy. Yeah, I'm not sure that would work out so well. But I have found a technological solution.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01:

To your help?

SPEAKER_00:

Is it really gonna help me?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Whenever I hear the word solution, I think money.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh.

SPEAKER_00:

And then also when is it gonna break? That's what I think. So I know I don't mean to sound skeptical. I just, you know, so what is it?

SPEAKER_01:

Robotic lawnmower.

SPEAKER_00:

Robotic lawnmower.

SPEAKER_01:

It's like a roomba, but for your yard.

SPEAKER_00:

May I mall your lawn.

SPEAKER_01:

No, it's like a roomba. Like you see the cat sitting on the roomba and all those viral videos. Then you see a cat in a shark. Is it operated by a cat? No. It could be.

SPEAKER_00:

Could be.

SPEAKER_01:

It could be.

SPEAKER_00:

Because it's robotic.

unknown:

Right?

SPEAKER_00:

So I'm I'm guessing it's got GPS or it's got some kind of a There's one with a little figure of a cat on it that looks like it.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I'm just kidding. No, that's not true. But I found I saw an ad and I clicked on it. And this is gonna be a problem because now anytime I log into anything where there are advertisements, I'm probably now gonna get ads for robotic lawn mowers.

SPEAKER_00:

You probably I'm probably also gonna be getting yeah, just because I'm talking about it.

SPEAKER_01:

Robotic lawn mowers. Robotic lawn mowers.

SPEAKER_00:

Who are you talking to?

SPEAKER_01:

The algorithm.

SPEAKER_00:

The oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So this is amazing, and there's one here that's only thirteen thousand dollars.

SPEAKER_00:

What?

SPEAKER_01:

No, a thousand three hundred, not no, this one is a fancy one. This is thirteen thousand seven hundred thousand dollars. I think this is not the brand for us.

SPEAKER_00:

What what does it do that would like how do you what's the ROI on that?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know. Let's see.

SPEAKER_00:

Um it's the you better have a very, very big lawn. You better see now you're just gonna get all kinds of answers.

SPEAKER_01:

I know.

SPEAKER_00:

But you better have a huge lawn, huge like golf course size.

SPEAKER_01:

This one.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Satellite guided centimeter level accuracy. What? Without the need for any property specific stationary antennae. Manicures area to nine acres.

SPEAKER_00:

See, I said like a golf course. I don't have many acres that would be more than nine acres, I would guess.

SPEAKER_01:

Seamless management of every turf complexity.

SPEAKER_00:

Really? What about rock?

SPEAKER_01:

14 grand.

SPEAKER_00:

What about rock?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, apparently satellite.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Well, which means that you need access to satellite feedback.

SPEAKER_01:

Key features.

unknown:

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. Oh, teamwork collaborative technology for operating more robots in the same area.

SPEAKER_00:

Wait, so they like all like operate together and they they decide which way to go?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Teamwork.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

T M. Teamwork.

unknown:

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00:

Wait, that's what's that's why it's called TM?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, no, I mean teamwork with a capital T and a capital M, but then it and a capital W, but then it's suprascript T M. So this company has now trademarked the work, the word teamwork? Dudes, I don't think so. No.

SPEAKER_00:

What? Can I say that?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, teamwork. TM.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh wow. They trademarked the word teamwork. We're just gonna use that word teamwork.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm gonna just keep using the word teamwork again. Teamwork!

SPEAKER_00:

Teamwork!

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, we have good teamwork.

SPEAKER_00:

We have great teamwork. Yeah, our teamwork is worth about$14,000.

SPEAKER_01:

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

Our teamwork is monitored by satellite.

SPEAKER_01:

It has an integrated obstacle avoidance system. What? So the thing is, this actually sounds really amazing if we had a this, what is this, Star Wars? Okay, you've got to put this picture up here when you see this. This is one of their little things. It's showing the satellites coming down, but it looks like Oh, it's triangulating.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but it looks like lasers, like you know, get out there, get some exercise, have a good breakfast, you know, get your lawnmower going. This is how you get your lawnmower going. Okay, and this is great. And walk around in your yard, enjoy the grass, mow the lawn, because you will enjoy it. I won't.

SPEAKER_01:

So clearly, this is too much mower for us.

SPEAKER_00:

It's too much mower.

SPEAKER_01:

It's too much mower for us. So I went to CNET.

SPEAKER_00:

That's crazy. Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. And now CNET has a bunch of other robot lawnmowers that it talks about. And the this was from September 2024, where the author is talking about two years, zero regrets.

SPEAKER_00:

My two years, zero regrets.

SPEAKER_01:

Robot lawnmower is still worth every penny.

SPEAKER_00:

Every single penny.$24,000 in my lawnmower still working fine.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but apparently.

SPEAKER_00:

It missed a blade last week, and I pressed a button, it went back and found that blade and chopped it nice and clean.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, and did it like reference where the rest of the case is? Referenced it like nice. Wow, laser. You gotta look out though, because if there's rabbits in the yard and there's chopping lasers in the room. Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_00:

Some rabbits have like half ears. No, because they're like, you know, no, that's I'm just saying it's not looking for all the obstacles. Hey, I you know, why are rabbits in the yard anyway if there's a robot there? If I was a rabbit, I would not want to be near a robot.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, next thing you know, the rabbit's gonna be on top of the on the top of the eating carrot.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, these are much more reasonable though.

SPEAKER_00:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01:

So we've got the Segway Navimo for$1,300.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Does it have satellite technology?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_00:

How does it but how is it robotic then? Does it just memorize where it's gone? Like it is it off book?

SPEAKER_01:

I think it it somehow maps it into the thing.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, like a like a like a roomba. I was gonna say Zumba. A Roomba.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, that that too. That too. So some of them have GPS guidance. And apparently that's better because the author was frustrated with the non-GPS robot mower. These are kind of interesting looking, they're very low profile. See, look at that.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Mamotion Luba 2.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

It looks it looks very Star Wars.

SPEAKER_00:

Mamotion Luba. Luba.

SPEAKER_01:

This looks awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Can this also do multiple terrain?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

Because uh we have a we live in Massachusetts, and this area is a lot of things. No, but it has a lot of granite and rocks in the ground. And after a very harsh winter, sometimes the rocks emerge because of the way the ground is um you know pushing things up, frost and things like that. And when the rocks are there, before I mow the lawn, I have to go out there and then just kind of clear the path often.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh.

SPEAKER_00:

But, you know, if it can do that kind of thing, that's cool. But if it can't, then it's just gonna get stuck. Well and what happens if a neighbor's uh robotic lawnmower ends up in your lawn at the mid in the middle of the night, and then the next day they start to fight, and then there's like you know, a whole like fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, and all the area lawn mowers come together. Yeah, yeah, and they've got like a rumble. Instead of a nice clean shaven lawn, you've got like a whole area that's just dirt because they've been fighting all night.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, see what happens all uneven. Yeah, see what happens? That would be terrible.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you can't rely on robots, yeah. Okay, that'd be like having a robotic uh, you know, like a hair buzzer all the time.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, you could do that too.

SPEAKER_00:

That'd be interesting. You could do that like a helmet and it goes and it memorizes all the divots in your head. Well, my head.

SPEAKER_01:

I wonder if they have that.

SPEAKER_00:

That'd be cool. Invent that. Oh, I'll I'll check it out.

SPEAKER_01:

Robotic not robit. Robotic hair uh shaver. Cut.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, haircut. Oh, even Roboti haircutting machine. Oh no. Uh it starts weeding your head. And there's a rabbit there. Um fertilizes your head. Miracle grow, of course. And you get like chia growing on your head.

SPEAKER_01:

This robot can cut your hair and make small talk.

SPEAKER_00:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

It was what? I don't know. Shane White and didn't want to get a haircut during the pandemic, so he built a robot to do it for him.

SPEAKER_00:

Did Shane ever recover from the pandemic?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know if anyone has seen Shane lately.

SPEAKER_00:

That's a shame. So what what it's so they make robotic pool cleaners, you know, that just kind of goes around. Yeah. Like in the movie Galaxy Quest when he ends up back in his pool.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh Taggart. No, what is it? Yeah. Commander Taggart.

SPEAKER_01:

Commander Taggart.

SPEAKER_00:

And um it's just kind of like this just kind of going around the pool, just cleaning cleaning up all the debris because he's in LA where there are no plants.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh-huh. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Is there a robotic haircutter? There is?

SPEAKER_01:

Apparently, I don't know. This this is kind of old now. But remember the Flo V?

unknown:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh. Oh, is that the thing that pulls your hair? Like a like a. You put it like on a you put it on a on a um vacuum cleaner. Vacuum cleaner, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And it pulls your hair and then it slices your hair.

SPEAKER_01:

They still have it.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01:

Amazon.

SPEAKER_00:

What? They still sell the flow be.

unknown:

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my gosh.$280? A professional haircut.

SPEAKER_00:

For a vacuum cleaner.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my god. That cuts your hair. The flow bee, but it's made in the USA. Um, I didn't even know that was still a thing anymore.

SPEAKER_00:

What's sold separately?

SPEAKER_01:

What? Mini VAC sold separately. So it doesn't come with the vaccine. It doesn't come with the back hair. But it comes with all the attachments.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow, floby. Well, that guy's hair looks like he uses a flowy.

SPEAKER_01:

Family haircuts made easy.

SPEAKER_00:

And your pet dog. Don't do your cat, but your pet dog will love flobe pet.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh no, but nah. No, your your cat will do something to you if you try to do that to it.

SPEAKER_00:

So is it it just it just goes to show that robots now wait?

SPEAKER_01:

This looks like the old commercial.

SPEAKER_00:

It is the old commercial. In fact, that's still that shirt would not be sold even on Amazon today.

SPEAKER_01:

You don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

That's an old ad. Wow. Um, but this just goes to show that robots are not yet prime time for things like yards, hair, no, manscaping.

SPEAKER_01:

Ooh, yeah, you gotta be careful with that. I mean, talk about terrain. Honey, what are you doing? Rockies. Oh, don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no. But it looks like these lawnmowers are a thing. So, so you know, I I don't know. Let's see. So CNET here says Segway's Navimo.

SPEAKER_00:

Is it made by Segway, the same company that makes it? I think so. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

That was a Segway.

SPEAKER_01:

Anyway, go on. Um I've never ridden a Segway. I want to, though.

SPEAKER_00:

Me too. I do want to write a Segway. Yeah. I have a feeling though that I'd like to. No, you won't.

SPEAKER_01:

Flat on my face.

SPEAKER_00:

No, it's designed not to unless it loses power. Which again, kind of like the lawn mower, this automatic lawn mower. It's rechargeable. But what if it runs out of power? It's doing 25 acres, and all of its buddies go, I'm done.

SPEAKER_01:

No, but this is limited to a quarter acre of mowing.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

So that could do our yard.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Okay. There you go.

SPEAKER_01:

Right? So. And then found I found the perfect part of my lawn for it after driving it around like an oversized, very slow RC car using my OnePlus open phone as the remote.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, so it's robotic, but you have to attend to it. No, it doesn't sound like the bar.

SPEAKER_01:

No, it it it it like maps it or something. No wires are needed. What slower than an RC. I don't know what an RC car. Oh, radio controlled car. But it all wheel drive. Huh? Huh?

SPEAKER_00:

You this looks I mean it's a foot the photograph looks great. It looks great, although it's not really all that great. But the photograph looks great.

SPEAKER_01:

It's great, but because the guy didn't have to mow it himself.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but what happens if something goes wrong? Like literally, what if it goes into the neighbor's yard just accidentally because satellites are off or sunflare or whatever there is? And then it ends up in the neighbor's yard and it starts to like kill the rhododendrons in the tulips. Next thing you know, then there's this warfare between the two families, and then they set the robots on each other.

SPEAKER_01:

I say that's what homeowner's insurance is for.

SPEAKER_00:

It's okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Does it come with a special warranty?

SPEAKER_01:

Glue, paste, you put the flowers back together. Lego flowers.

SPEAKER_00:

This is why you don't do lawn work.

SPEAKER_01:

Lego flowers. But just clip them back together.

SPEAKER_00:

Petal comes off, put it They can't even get uh a rover to land on Pluto.

SPEAKER_01:

Who's that? What do you mean? When did they try to get a rover to land on Pluto?

SPEAKER_00:

They never did. And they won't be able to.

SPEAKER_01:

They might.

SPEAKER_00:

They might at some point, someday. As soon as they get these robots to work correctly now, I would not trust a robotic lawn mower in our yard. First of all, there's not enough work for it to do. It would get boring.

SPEAKER_01:

But you just said that it takes up too much of your time.

SPEAKER_00:

It does.

SPEAKER_01:

So let the robot's time be taken up.

SPEAKER_00:

If I'm gonna spend$1,300 on a robot to do my lawn, sure, if it does it really well. If there's one problem, I'll be like, all right, now I've got to go out and I've got to like finish it.

SPEAKER_01:

You see therapy, it'll be okay.

SPEAKER_00:

There's one area in a yard front, the front of the house, yeah, with the wall, the the the stone wall.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

What if it forgets and goes over the stone wall and then down to the ground and it breaks? Or it it it it hits something.

SPEAKER_01:

I'd want to give it a name.

SPEAKER_00:

A raccoon. Like what?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know. Like Buzzy. I would love to try one of these things.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. You you get yourself and you set it up, the robotic lawnmower. And where are you gonna keep it when you're not we're not using it?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know how to set it up.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh gosh. There we go.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm gonna need you to set it up.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh-huh. Next thing you know, I'm fighting with it, and I decide to I get my old push mower. Remember that's the first mower we got for our first house. What? Was a manual push mower?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh yeah. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_00:

That I had to sell that after a couple of tries.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep, because that was not happening.

SPEAKER_00:

Was not doing anything productive for me.

SPEAKER_01:

Why did you do that? You were so committed to it too. I was like, I am getting a manual push mower. I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_00:

See, I put the man back in manual.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And then I removed the man from the robotic anything for us right now.

SPEAKER_01:

We have to post pictures.

SPEAKER_00:

We have to get they gotta perfect that first.

SPEAKER_01:

I like the$24,000 one. I don't even trust robotic. It's cute. But yeah, I guess if we're gonna get a robot, it should probably be multifunctional.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it should be able to do more than just mow your lawn. I would want it to do everything.

SPEAKER_01:

What if it could mow your lawn and vacuum? It's got indoor-outdoor mode.

SPEAKER_00:

So it could go straight from the And cut your hair. Okay. Okay, we're getting somewhere.

SPEAKER_01:

And cut your pet's hair.

SPEAKER_00:

We're definitely getting somewhere.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Definitely getting somewhere.

SPEAKER_01:

We are.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Not sure where, but we're getting somewhere.

SPEAKER_00:

With that cost.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, it's all it's all the same thing.$13,799.99.

SPEAKER_00:

Plus tax, delivery, insurance, what and you know, the extended warranty. Next thing you know,$21,000.

SPEAKER_01:

But look at how cute it is.

SPEAKER_00:

You know what else is cute?

SPEAKER_01:

What?

SPEAKER_00:

A la boo boo.

SPEAKER_01:

They're not that cute. They look like the the the the little monster from the wild things.

SPEAKER_00:

It does. That's what I thought it was at first.

SPEAKER_01:

I did too. I did too. But apparently it's not.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

It is a laboooboo. And that's their story, and they're sticking to it.

SPEAKER_00:

Anyway.

SPEAKER_01:

And I'm sticking to this.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_01:

This is cute. This is tech that is cute and practical.

SPEAKER_00:

Meanwhile, I still do the lawn.

SPEAKER_01:

Yup.