Bosch Sees Strong Opportunities for Consumer Robotics Jun 14, 2012

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The Bosch Group in the United Kingdom said during its annual UK press conference that it continues to view the Consumer Goods and Building Technology sector as one of the sectors with the largest opportunity for growth.

"We see a strong growth opportunity for robotic applications in the consumer market," said Peter Fouquet, president of Bosch UK at the press conference.

He noted that Bosch will soon begin manufacturing robotic lawn-mowers at the Stowmarket, UK Bosch plant.

"In addition," he added, "our home appliances products are pioneering and setting standards worldwide. In 2011, we held the record for the most efficient washer-dryer."

Bosch appears to have already launched the British-built robotic lawnmower in at least one European market: the Indego was billed as the world's first intelligent lawn mower when it was unveiled in Sweden in late-May 2012. The unit is designed to recognize and mow around trees, flower beds, and gravel areas. The unit is designed to be easier to use than other robotic mowers because pre-programming is not required.

The unit's intelligence means it mows using parallel navigation, as opposed to the less efficient random navigation used by some other robotic mowers.

The unit also keeps track of its charger and its own current grass-cutting status. If it needs to stop mid-trim to recharge, it can return to the same spot to pick up where it left off. The unit is equipped with a lithium-ion battery.

Charging takes about 90 minutes and the unit can run about 20 minutes, cutting about 200 square meters, on a single charge. It takes about 10 hours total to mow 1000 sq m, said to be much faster than competitive robotic mowers. The mower is said to mow a lawn for an electricity cost of about one-tenth of the cost of gasoline to mow with a conventional lawn mower.

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