O-Robot: Smart Outdoor Devices for Summer Living

The greatest advantage of a smart home is the automation, operation and management of devices while you are way from home- or at home and feeling lazy. While the smart home market still has a long way to go before reaching its full potential, the vision of the connected home is beginning to come together. 

Many consumers don’t understand the value proposition of connected, smart devices. Early adopters still have a few significant pain points they’d like addressed, including universal standards for connection, platform integration, security and privacy.

And, for most people, the phrase “smart home products” still conjures up images of gadgets that work inside the house like smart ovens, thermostats, refrigerators, blinds and more. 

As technology advances, we’re seeing app-enabled products that enhance your outdoor space, which includes your front porch, backyard, or garden all year-round. 

If you’re one of those people who doesn’t enjoy mowing the lawn, watering the garden every morning, or cleaning the pool, you can now get a robot for that. 

There are specific units that can get your repetitive and mundane outdoor tasks done while you sleep or sit on the patio enjoying a cold drink. 

These weather-proofed devices boost the value of your smart home while expanding how you spend time in the open air.

While the diversity of smart garden and lawn care tech is fitting for the outdoors, it can also make it hard to know where to begin. 

Once you research your options, you can find the right tools that will help you save time through automation and push notifications. 

Extend your WiFi into the backyard and you’ll find a diverse selection of smart robots that will bring the technological comforts of your home to the great outdoors.

Whether you want a robot to mow your lawn, clean your barbecue grill or scrub your pool walls, these backyard-friendly appliances will kickoff your search for convenience and help with a bang. 

Robot Lawnmower

Mowing the lawn can be a fun pastime – until it’s not. With a robot lawnmower, you can say goodbye to weekly lawn mowing and instead enjoy your garden while the robot handles everything.

I had the opportunity of seeing the Husqvarna robotic lawnmower in action while on vacation at a neighboring summer cottage rental in New England. I was instantly intrigued and inspired to learn more.

This lawnmower cuts the grass frequently and sheds the short clippings across your lawn which improve your garden’s health. It’s like getting a regular haircut and keeps your grass looking consistently healthy and neat. 

Setting up the robot lawnmower may be a long, arduous, and time-consuming though. The charging station requires installation on a surface level to the grass area and near an electrical outlet. The wire system must be laid around the perimeter of the cutting area and connect back to the charging station. The setup provides a boundary for the mower and guides it back to its base. Depending your yard size, this could take a few hours.

The Husqvarna comes with everything you need including patented guide wires and boundary wires. It works quietly and autonomously, cutting less grass more frequently to maintain a smooth, carpet-like appearance.

A robot lawnmower can bring savings in terms of time and cost. It also saves your knees and back too. You may still need to trim around the edges or uncut areas near objects, but that’s still far less taxing compared to mowing the whole lawn. 

WiFi Lawn Sprinkler Controllers

Want to properly water your greenery without lifting a finger? Let a smart sprinkler controller do the job. 

Smart sprinkler controllers work like smart thermostats by automatically controlling the watering schedule for your yard or garden. 

You can find one that allows you to set up a watering schedule. Others employ real-time, hyper-accurate weather data with your plant data to work out when to water and how much -- or when to let nature handle it.

Orbit 57946 B-hyve Smart 6-Zone Indoor/Outdoor Sprinkler Controller, Compatible with Alexa, 6 Station

I use the Orbit B-hyve. This smart sprinkler controller is easy to use, integrates with water sensors and most wiring setups and it adjusts to real-time weather conditions accurately, with Rain Delay and Smart Watering features. 

Another brand, Rachio, waters your yard automatically and effortlessly. It creates tailored smart schedules based on your lawn’s specific needs including sun exposure, plant and soil type. 

With both products, you can use your phone like a watering remote by selecting a zone to run or pause watering. Through the app, you can see daily and monthly estimates of how much water the system applied to the zone. And, you can integrate them with other smart-home automation and voice control including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit, Samsung SmartThings and IFTTT.

However, Rachio has an additional yard mapping feature which allows you to note where the sprinkler heads are and draw virtual boundaries for each zone. 

Robot BBQ Cleaners

Summer and barbecues go together like peanut butter and jelly. 

Whether you have large or small backyard gatherings, you can elevate your barbecue game with smart outdoor grills and thermometers. 

If you grill a lot, you know how critical it is to keep the surfaces clean to prevent flare ups when cooking and for good hygiene while cooking.

Grillbot Automatic Grill Cleaning Robot

Thankfully, robots like the Grillbot take the hassle out of cleaning your grill so you don’t have to. These robots come with brass wire brushes, electric motors and a CPU, which work together to clean the cooking grate surface. 

While it may get a bit noisy as it cleans your grill, it’s a useful tool to have for casual maintenance of your grill between deep cleanings.  

Robot Pool Cleaners

Few things can beat the summer heat like a crystal-clean pool. 

If you’re one of the 10.4 million people who own a residential pool, you know how that maintaining it can be a chore.

But it’s not just for the aesthetic benefits of crystal-clean water. Cleanings lengthen the lifespan of your pool, reduce chemical costs and conserve energy in the process. 

Depending on the pool, your budget and your situation, you could go with the manual type of pool cleaning equipment or pay for weekly pool service. Or, you can save yourself the hassle and go with an automatic option like the Dolphin Nautilus robot pool cleaner.

Dolphin Triton PS Plus WiFi Operated Robotic Pool [Vacuum] Cleaner

A robot pool cleaner requires very little physical effort to set up. Plus, it saves your pool filter by collecting the dirt and debris in its own filter bag as it scrubs your pool. 

The robot will clean your pool automatically and as often as necessary. This saves you time, labor and utilities while keeping your pools sparkling clean and reducing the debris that runs in the pool filter.

Make Your Backyard More Comfortable and Convenient

With connected and programmable devices, your smart home doesn’t have to end at your back door.

Whether you have access to rolling fields or a small front porch, these smart outdoor devices will provide convenience, utility and increased efficiency when managing your outdoor chores. And you get to drink iced tea while they do the work.