Backyard robotics

Geeks everywhere will love the new garden-oriented robotics. The Tertill is a weed whacker designed by Franklin Robotics (the company behind indoor vacuum robot Roomba). It roams the garden looking for plants shorter than one-inch, and trims them.

Outdoor Roomba: Tech geeks and gardening freaks can finally combine their two passions.

Farmbot, an open source garden robot, runs on game-like software that allows you to plan your garden, but also set up necessary maintenance – and you can keep an eye on it all from your laptop. This is a comprehensive robot, and the price tag proves it – about $4,000 USD. You can pre-order from the website Farm.bot and orders will start shipping this September.

The Kobi (TheKobi.com) mows and picks up leaves from the yard, with an attachment for mulching said leaves. Apparently, it can also clear snow from the driveway – and thanks to its wireless connection to the weather channel, it knows when snow is coming and will start shoveling immediately.

Photovoltaic transformers seem low-tech by comparison, but are highly effective and energy efficient for operating landscape lighting.