Whirling dervishes of blade and robot? FCC reaches for rubberstamp

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has okayed robotic appliance maker iRobot to continue work on its line of lawnmower droids.

The FCC issued a ruling this week that clears the lawn-bots of violation of FCC radio broadcast rules. The decision means iRobot can move forward with its new bots without fear of FCC fines.

At issue was the proposed navigation system for the lawn mowers. The bots are designed to use beacons from a series of stakes placed in the ground to outline the permitted mowing area. Those stakes, which used the 6240–6740 mhz frequency range, posed the possibility of creating interference with radio telescopes operating at similar frequencies.

iRobot sought to skirt the rules by obtaining an FCC waiver to operate outside of its Section 15 radio interference clause.

Astronomers with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory had objected to the waiver, conceding that though there was little actual risk of interference, they wanted assurances that no stray mower-bot would mess up their expensive research gear.

The FCC found that, by and large, the lawnmowers and radio communications systems would not be strong enough to cause widespread disruptions in other equipment and systems, including the radio telescopes, when they were simply being stuck into the ground around a patch of grass.

Further helping the process along was a proposal by iRobot to market its mowers as "for residential use only" in hopes of keeping them tucked safely away from scientific research equipment.

As a result, the FCC was satisfied that the robotic mowers could operate without running afoul of interference rules.

"We find that when taking into account the variability in propagation characteristics due to terrain, low antenna heights, and other propagation factors, grant of this waiver is very unlikely to increase the potential for harmful interference," the FCC said.

"As a condition for granting this waiver, and to promote the protection of radio astronomy operations, we will require iRobot to comply with the representations and commitments it made in the Waiver Request." ®