Plenty of autonomous lawnmowers have been showcased or introduced at this year’s IFA event in Berlin, but only one of them comes equipped with a robotic arm. NexLawn, a sub-brand of MOVA that sits under its Dreame parent company, has announced the Master X Series Concept, which it describes as “the first robotic mower with a fully functional mechanical arm.”
That arm is designed to help reduce the amount of manual maintenance that’s required for people who own and run robot lawnmowers, such as picking up any fallen sticks or debris that could damage the bot or force it to navigate around the obstacle. The arm folds down to 44.5 cm (about 17.5 inches) in length, extends up to 77 cm (a little over 30 inches), and can reach as far as one meter away when performing outdoor tasks. NexLawn says it features multiple interchangeable arm attachments, including a multi-gripper, a trimmer head, and an edging disc head, with more in development.
The Master X Series Concept is capable of “trimming, weeding, fruit picking, and even pet interaction,” according to NexLawn’s press release. A 3D animated video demo shows the mower throwing a ball for a dog, for example, though it’s hard to picture a pooch that would engage positively with such a visibly not human-looking device.
The inclusion of “Concept” in its name indicates that this isn’t a consumer-ready product you can actually go out and buy, but some concept products do eventually evolve into something tangible. NexLawn hasn’t mentioned a price or release timeline, however, so any potential launch will likely be a ways off.