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If Dale Johnson mows his yard after going to bed, he’s not sleep walking.

The Southwest Decatur resident is likely under the covers dreaming of the extra time he has to go fishing.

A robotic lawn mower trims Johnson’s grass multiple times per week, and it doesn’t need eyes to supervise it.

“Cuts every bit of it,” he said. “Never missed a spot. Looks beautiful.”

It’s likely Johnson is the first homeowner in Decatur to employ a robotic mower, but based on growing sales and the practical and economic advantages of the machines, the computerized clippers could become common.

Selling points

Among the selling points for the LawnBott, which comes in four models priced $1,600 to $3,600, is that it doesn’t need gas or oil and uses about $12 worth of electricity yearly for Johnson’s model.

Other models are even more efficient, with energy bills as low as $8 annually. The electric motor also makes little noise, so it can operate at night, while its owners and neighbors sleep.

Clint Dawson, owner of LawnBotts.com, an authorized LawnBott dealer in Birmingham, said customers range from tech-savvy engineers — including two NASA engineers in Huntsville — to the elderly who never owned a computer.

Their reasons also vary, he said. Some simply don’t like cutting grass; some say it’s cheaper than buying a higher-end riding mower or hiring a lawn service.

“Obviously, they’re not to the mainstream level yet,” Dawson said.

“You can’t just go down to Walmart and pick one up, but last year, while we were in the big downfall with the economy, we exceeded sales from the previous year. And this year we’re exceeding last year.”

Built in Italy, LawnBotts arrived in Europe in 2001, and U.S. sales started 31/2 years ago. There are about 2,500 LawnBott brand mowers in the nation.

Its top competitor is Husqvarna, which has four robot mowers ranging in price from $1,300 to a $3,000 solar-powered model.

Used by state

Motorists traveling Northwest Alabama highways may have already seen a robotic mower in action.

The Alabama Department of Transportation Division 2 uses a robotic mower on steep slopes as a safety precaution. The $38,000 machine can work on 35-to-41-degree angles.

Besides convenience, John Tarvin, marketing manager for Kyodo America, which has U.S. selling rights for LawnBott, said he expects robotic mower sales to climb as the government puts tighter regulations on the gas engines that power conventional mowers.

That will increase prices of conventional mowers and reduce the gap of the more expensive robotic mowers, he said.

And there’s a growing clientele attracted to LawnBott’s low carbon footprint, he added.

Johnson, who recently began a home repair radio show called “House Studs,” learned about LawnBott while attending the Birmingham Home Show in March.

After testing it in ankle-deep grass, uncut for three weeks, he was ready to buy.

In the less than two months, he’s used it, Johnson figures at least 100 passersby have stopped to inquire about it.

Mistaken for toy

A couple last weekend thought it was a remote-control car and were stunned to learn it was a mower and nobody was controlling it.

“They go, ‘Get out of here.’ I mean they just laughed,” he said.

The rechargeable, 22-pound mower relies on a slightly buried wire with a radio signal to set the parameters of the mowing zones.

The robot can only operate inside the wires, and will halt if the wire is cut.

Once it starts, it follows an internal memory of where it has mowed, though it looks confused because it cuts in a random pattern.

The robot also can sense when it’s above previously cut grass or a concrete surface so it won’t cut there.

Johnson’s model can operate for several hours and clear two acres on one charge.

When power gets low, it automatically returns to its recharging house.

Smart, safe

Once recharged, it returns to the job, with memory of work completed. The mower also will sense rain or wet grass and automatically return to its charging bay.

“It has an alarm that goes off anytime someone picks it up while it’s mowing,” Johnson said.

“And it wouldn’t work in another yard anyway without the wire signal.

All the LawnBott mowers feature four-point blades that mulch the clippings. If it bumps into the obstacle, like a swing set, it simply mows around it.

Dawson said the LawnBott often is compared to the automated Roomba house vacuum.

And one model, the Spyder, doesn’t use ground wires, but merely relies on sensors to recognize when it leaves a grassy surface.

If you don't think mowing the lawn is fun, you might like this new mower. The machine designed to get the job done for you just got better.

First introduced in 2007, LawnBott is a gas-free, robotic lawnmower that can be programmed to work completely by itself. This is similar to the automatic vacuum cleaner the Roomba.

Just as the Roomba can take care of multiple rooms, the LawnBott can be set to work on up to three different zones, such as your front lawn, side grass, and backyard. It can trim grass for three to five hours on a single charge. Once the job is done or the battery is running low, the device automatically returns to its "home," where it can recharge itself.

The LawnBott uses a flat blade to cut and mulch grass at the same time. The 2009 models of the LawnBott selectively come with many possible upgrades, such as a bigger chassis, more powerful engine, better software, and smarter technology.

For example, the new models now can navigate slopes of up to 27 degrees, and the LB3500 model can maintain a large yard area up to 40,000 square feet. They can also come with a rain detector that will make the machine automatically go "home" when rain is detected.

According to its manufacturer, the LawnBott uses about $7 to $10 worth of electricity a year.

I don't know about its effectiveness as a lawnmower, but this sure is a cool toy. It's an expensive one, too. The cheapest model of the robotic mower, the LB2110, costs around $2,000. The flagship LB3500 model costs another $1,500.

Using your cellphone ... to mow your lawn?

Owners of Kyodo America’s newest robotic lawn mower, the LawnBott LB3500, can program the little guy using a Bluetooth-equipped mobile phone, telling the mower when to leave its docking station and run around your estate, happily chewing up the grass while you sip a mint julep.

The $3,249 device can mow up to an acre out of the box — and two acres if you add two more lithium-ion batteries. A guy wire tacked around your property’s perimeter keeps the LawnBott from straying into your neighbor’s yard.

You can program the number of times per day and days per week that the LawnBott should mow, either by entering information on its screen or by using a Java program downloaded to your phone. One glitch is that Kyodo America says that an incompatibility between Bluetooth technologies in Europe and the United States means that it will be a few months before the phone features work here. Meanwhile, if you need to impress your friends, you can always accessorize the LawnBott with a $79 pair of spiked wheels.

... If you want to get closer to the cutting edge of robotics, so to speak, you're better off looking at a technology that's already well-commercialized: robotic lawn mowers. Today's New York Times salutes a new product, the Kyodo LawnBott LB3500, which mows your lawn by itself.  Here's the manufacturer's description:

"It operates automatically, and autonomously by means of its intelligent computer and a perimeter cable. It can move freely within an enclosed area, detecting the faint signal transmitted by the perimeter cable located on the ground, defining the areas to be mowed; it can also work without a perimeter cable as working area is enclosed by a fence or small border at least 4 inches tall. ... [I]t leaves its docking station and starts mowing your yard in a random direction. It will mow in a straight line until it bumps into an obstacle, such as a tree or flower pot, or until it runs over its perimeter cable, then it stops, backs up, turns and takes off again."

Well, at least it needs a human to recharge its batteries, right?

Wrong. The company explains:

When the batteries start running low, or at the end of its cutting cycle, the mower will search out the perimeter cable and follow it back to its docking station to recharge.  After charging, it heads back out on its own! ... With the new LawnBott, you have One Less Thing to Worry About.

Well, yes. But you also have one more thing to worry about: Your lawnmower running amok while you're at the office. No human hassle means no human control.

Kyodo says the LB3500 comes with enhanced safety features: "a higher sensitivity, free-floating, 360° bumper shell, blade stop proximity sensor, and an on-board alarm system should an unauthorized user pick up the LawnBott." Still, we're talking about a slicing machine that runs around by itself and can't even be stopped by power depletion. LawnBotts.com points out that "robotic lawnmowers are many times safer than its manual counterparts just because you eliminate the human needing to be around it while it's operating." This is the same sense in which military drones are safer than manned vehicles and weapons: They protect their owners. But if you're not the owner, look out.

You may recall the LB2000, a robot that will mow your lawn for you. Well, it’s been revamped and reintroduced as the LB3200 and has a new exciting feature.

The new LawnBott has added Bluetooth technology to its controls so that you can program and control it from anywhere via your cell or laptop. That comes in really handy when you’ve promised your wife you’d mow the lawn and yet you want to go out with you buddies instead, now you can do both. It works the same way as its predecessor and has two lithium ion batteries. It can go up a 30 degree incline and will mow a 38,000 sq ft area before returning to its dock for a charge.

It does come with a blade stopping sensor if anyone should pick it up which is really nice as well. It is pricey, $3,250, but if you’re like me and have a huge back yard that’ll pay for itself in free time quickly.

LawnBott has been upgraded. When we covered the previous incarnation of the lawnmower robot, we weren’t sure the concept would fly — but we were wrong and congratulations are in order. KA Home Robotics announced a new model, the LawnBott LB3200, which adds Bluetooth tech to its mowing arsenal, letting you program and control it from any Bluetooth-enabled cellphone or laptop.

For the initial setup, you use the included perimeter wire to set the boundary around the lawn edge, flowerbeds and bushes. Utilizing two lithium-ion batteries for power, the LB3500 leaves the docking station at its preprogrammed time to start the mow. It will work on slopes up to 30 degrees and cut an area as big as 38,000 square feet and then it return to its dock automatically. For safety there's a free-floating 360-degree bumper, a blade-stop sensor, and an onboard alarm system if an unauthorized user picks up the LawnBott. LawnBott 2.0 is available now for $3,250.

AT CES 2008 in Las Vegas, Kyodo America showcased the LawnBott, the wire-free LB1200 model and the Bluetooth enabled LB3500, robotic lawn mowers that run on electricity and use a flat blade to simultaneously cuts and mulches grass. The LawnBott LB1200 can cut and trim grass for three to four hours on a single charge of the lithium-ion batteries. It can be programmed to cut daily, on a weekly schedule, or whenever you want.

No perimeter wires are needed as the LawnBott LB1200 has patented sensors that detect grass. When it approaches walkways and other non grass surfaces, it simply reverses direction. The LB 3500 can be programmed via Bluetooth and has a docking station and includes perimeter wire to create the lawn boundary. The LB1200 is priced at $1299 and the LB3500 is priced at $3249.

Nothing beats mowing the yard while relaxing in a hammock with a beer and the paper - good thing LawnBott shears up to 30,000 square feet of grass all by itself. The sensor causes a directional shift whenever the mini mower bumps into an object at least 4 inches high or detects a perimeter wire you've laid out. When the rechargeable lithium batteries start to run down, the little guy returns to its docking station to juice up. And it uses only about $10 worth of electricity a year, so even the greenest gardeners have zero reason to stress. The bot can be programmed to a regular schedule, and it's so quiet you can set it to mow at the crack of dawn while you sleep in.

PERSONAL HELPER: The LawnBott, a battery-operated robot, does exactly what its name implies: It mows your lawn so you don't have to. Moving freely, aided by its internal computer, it follows the signal from its perimeter cable, which transmits which areas need to be mowed. The LawnBott comes in four models, offering a variety of features ranging from rain sensors (basic to all models) to Bluetooth capability (in the high-end LB3500 version), allowing it to be programmed and controlled from any Bluetooth-compatible device. Prices are $1,749 for the LB2000 Professional model, $2,299 for the LB300 Deluxe LT, $2,499 for the LB3200 Evolution and $2,899 for the LB3500.

The robot goodness doesn't stop indoors. The LawnBott Evolution keeps lawns trim--no human required. The Evolution uses adaptive programming technology to reprogram itself to meet a lawn's changing cutting needs. The LawnBott can cut up to 33,000 square feet of grass and can even handle anything under a 27-degree incline.

The grass this LawnBott is resting on is no typical grass. It's called Drivable Grass and, with its porous structure, it has maximized water retention, meaning less runoff to oceans, lakes and other water supplies

Lawrenceville, Ga.- January 20, 2006 - Kyodo America (KA) introduces the LawnBott robotic lawnmower to the American consumer.

The LawnBott line of robotic mowers, (LawnBott Evolution, DeLuxe, and Professional models) will automatically cut your grass, everyday, leaving your lawn looking healthier and freshly cut. This innovative line of robotic mowers, formerly known as Ambrogio Evolution, Deluxe, and Professional, has been cutting the lawns of homeowners in Europe for several years. Now, as the new North American Importer, KA is bringing these labor and timesaving devices to the American consumer.

The LawnBott's are electric, producing zero-emissions, and quiet, so they can operate any time of day or night and not disturb the neighbors. Small and lightweight, at only 21 lbs. for the Evolution model, they can mow around obstacles and within narrow pathways and cover lawns of up to ¾ of an acre. Once programmed, they will mow your lawn everyday. When the LawnBott starts its cutting cycle, it leaves the docking station and begins to cut the yard in a random pattern, if its battery starts to get low, LawnBott will return to recharge itself without any human intervention!

Who likes to mow their own grass? With KA's new LawnBott mowers, you don't have to.
KA LawnBott, giving you One Less Thing to Worry About.