Ecovacs is one of the biggest brands in Australia when it comes to robot appliances. Its focus locally, however, has primarily been on vacuums and window cleaners. Until now. Enter the Goat G1 robot lawn mower, the first time an Ecovacs garden appliance has made its way down under.
At $2,999, it’s a luxury device that promises to keep your grass tidy and save time by using its robotic smarts. One of the main selling points of the Goat G1 is a speedy setup that does away with manually setting up boundary wires. It instead uses ultra-wideband (UWB) signal beacons placed at various points of your lawn. This then feeds information to an app for easy boundary assignment.
According to Ecovacs, a 600m2 garden only needs between two and four UWB beacons placed at specific points, followed by driving the robot mower around the lawn to set the boundaries in the app. All up, the process is said to take 20 minutes, after which the Goat G1 knows where it needs to go.
How does the Ecovacs Goat G1 work?
UWB technology is only part of how the robot mower navigates your lawn. It also uses what’s referred to as the “TrueMapping Multi-Fusion Localisation System”. Simply put, it combines four different technologies to precisely keep within its designated area.
This includes dual panoramic and fisheye cameras to gather real-time information in addition to the UWB beacons establishing a local area network. Plus, the Goat G1 also houses a gyroscope to keep steady on uneven terrain, and it has high-precision GPS technology to provide accurate positioning to the centimetre.
AI technology helps the outdoor appliance to separate lawn and non-lawn so it only mows what it should. Additionally, it uses the same AIVI 3D technology used in some of Ecovacs’ Deebot vacuums to assist with obstacle avoidance. Ecovacs says that the mower identifies objects as small as three centimetres using its 150-degree camera, and avoids them while mowing. This should mean any hoses left lying around or outdoor pets lounging in the sun will be left alone. The robot’s additional 360-degree camera also doubles as a security camera, meaning you can send it to roam your yard as a guard dog (goat?) of sorts, updating you of anything out of the ordinary.
Like other Ecovacs robot devices, the Goat G1 has a recharge station it automatically returns to when its battery runs low. With this in mind, the company claims that the device can mow a 600m2 lawn in one day.
Naturally, convenience is a big reason for anyone to consider a robot lawn mower. With many Australian homes having gardens to manage, it will undoubtedly have a local appeal.
“We know Australians love their gardens, and there is great pride by many in keeping them pristine,” Karen Powell, Regional Director of Australia and New Zealand for Ecovacs Robotics, said. “We also know that, just with home cleaning, lawn maintenance can be a hard and laborious task that many don’t enjoy, or sometimes can’t perform themselves,”
Starting on 21 September 2023, the Ecovacs Goat G1 will be available soon from various retailers, including the company’s own website, JB Hi-Fi, Bunnings, Amazon and more. Stylised as “GOAT”, well-known as the acronym for “greatest of all time”, it’s a device that’s clearly aiming for the top of the robot lawn mower chain.
Thats awesome, but I reckon it will last a day in our hood !efore it got pinched!