Sure, it is a advertising gimmick. Certain, it is type of hokey. However darn it if this does not unexpectedly pull on the heartstrings.
Husqvarna, the maker of autonomous dwelling garden mowers that look one thing like RC tactical assault autos from Mad Max occasions, is releasing an uncommon software program replace to rejoice a lonely robotic hundreds of miles away. In early August, the Curiosity Mars rover will flip 10 years previous. Following the software program replace, some 100,000 Husqvarna Automowers around the globe will have the ability to sing Glad Birthday to the intrepid explorer.
There’s some backstory right here (and, in fact, a video). The engineers behind Curiosity clearly had some enjoyable. They programmed the superior knowledge assortment robotic to sing Glad Birthday to itself, which it did on its first birthday in House. However saving batteries took priority on subsequent birthdays and the rover, which continues to be in operation, has not had any birthday magic since.Â
Rovers have lengthy held a novel area in standard creativeness, and whereas anthropomorphizing a machine is at all times questionable these Rovers (and the crew behind them) are worthy of celebration. My children love a guide known as Good Night time Oppy, in regards to the Alternative rover, and there are related titles about Curiosity.
“For us, it is a method to pay homage to the good engineering work of NASA, and that of our intensive crew of robotic consultants, by letting our robotic mowers rejoice a fellow robotic … no person ought to need to sing Glad Birthday to themselves, proper?” requested Björn Mannefred, Robotics Software program Supervisor at Husqvarna.
Husqvarna has been forward of the pack in working with IoT and exterior third-party options, together with Google House, Amazon Alexa, and IFTTT. This newest software program replace is accessible on August 5 and has a little bit of Elon Musk aptitude to it. In case you have an Automower, the replace is accessible to fashions 405X, 415X, and 435X AWD and can develop into obtainable completely in September for Automower homeowners to be used of their future birthday celebrations.
