Husqvarna Teaches Automower to Sing ‘Happy Birthday,’ will Celebrate NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover on August 5th
The Mars Curiosity Rover, the advanced data-collecting robot sent to the Red Planet in 2011, was engineered to sing “Happy Birthday” to itself, and did so on its first birthday in space. Sadly, however, since 2012 its birthdays have gone uncelebrated in order to save battery life.
Husqvarna, though, has decided this year will be different. To celebrate its love of robots as a leader in robotic mowing, the company has used technology based on its Automower’s existing alarm signal and developed a new program for the Automower robotic lawn mower to sing “Happy Birthday.”
Automower owners of the 405X, 415X and 435X AWD models that have the latest firmware installed will be notified about the update through the Husqvarna Automower Connect app, where they will have the opportunity to opt in and join the choir pre-event. If owners accept and follow the necessary steps, Automower robotic mowers will automatically sing at noon, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. (local time) on August 5th, as a fitting homage to Curiosity’s 10-year anniversary on Mars.
“As our robots on Earth are so loved and so much part of family life, we thought we´d extend that love all the way into space,” says Linda Lindqvist, product manager robotics at Husqvarna. “From a choir of robots on Earth to the loneliest robot in the universe – Happy Birthday!”
The update is available to a total of 100,000 Automowers around the world – on models 405X, 415X and 435X AWD – and will become available permanently in September for Automower owners as a modern way to add joy to future birthday celebrations.
“For us this is a way to pay homage to the great engineering work of NASA, and that of our extensive team of robotic experts, by letting our robotic mowers celebrate a fellow robot…nobody should have to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to themselves, right?” says Björn Mannefred, robotics software manager at Husqvarna.
To learn more and get step-by-step instructions to participate, visit www.husqvarna.com/happybirthday. If you want to see the Husqvarna´s robotic mower sing “Happy Birthday,” click here.
This “Happy Birthday” initiative, states Husqvarna, “derives from the company’s history of engineering and innovation, where robotic lawn mowers have played an important role in the company´s success. Husqvarna has been working with IoT and external third-party solutions for years, for example Google Home, Amazon Alexa and IFTTT.”
HUSQVARNA
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