Goodbye green thumb: robots and chatbots take care of the garden
Hi-tech gardening - made up of sensors, apps, interfaces and remotely controlled controllers - is no longer a fad. From private individuals with small gardens to large companies, here are the innovations
3' min read
3' min read
Gardening has new allies: smart devices capable of turning even the dullest of thumbs green. The hi-tech gardening trend - made up of sensors, apps, interfaces and remotely controlled controllers - now concerns everyone: from private individuals with small gardens to large farms, which use advanced irrigation and fertilisation systems, self-driving tractors and drones. Gardening 2.0 is already a reality. Between sensors, apps, interfaces and automation systems, greenery is managed via smartphone, with one eye on efficiency and the other on sustainable consumption
The trend driving the home garden revolution is that of self-driving robot lawn mowers. Borrowed from the household robots that clean our floors, they transpose Lidar indoor mapping technologies to the outdoors as well, making the hated grass mowing a breeze. Alongside numerous Asian competitors - from Dreame to China's Ecovacs - among the best buys is Move 1000, for gardens up to 1000 m², equipped with advanced 3D LiDAR technology that does not require RTK stations or GPS sensors (at €999). But there is also plenty of room for the made in Europe. Husqvarna is among them and with its Automower series it adjusts the cut according to weather conditions. Among the Swedish company's best-selling models is the Aspire R4 (€799), designed for small gardens. In Italy, the Treviso-based Stiga, specialised in gardening, stands out with a wide range of robots: from the small A4 (999 euros) for spaces up to 400 m², to models capable of handling areas up to 7000 m².
Chapter irrigation. Among the must-haves for keeping gardens and terraces under control are the smart sprinklers, which not only significantly reduce the time and effort required to maintain a healthy and lush green space, but also allow water consumption to be contained. Equipped with a touch display for convenient in-person management, they integrate wifi, which in most cases, allows remote control of operation with a rich set of options including, among others, the creation of predefined on/off routines and adapting irrigation to weather conditions.
Apps, another pillar of tech gardening, could not be missing. Because you know: when you get your hands on the hoe and the watering can, the questions come flooding in. And, fortunately, there is an app for (almost) everything. Like Plantnet, which helps identify plants and flowers, recognises harmful insects and pests and explains how to eradicate them, gives advice on nutrition and exposure and allows you to create a care calendar. Or MySoil, which analyses soil to determine its condition and then gives advice on which plants will do best in that piece of land. And for those who dream of revolutionising the layout of their green space, there are design apps such as Home Design 3D Outdoor & Garden, which allows you to draw floor plans and also insert furniture and decorative details.
Finally, you may be pleased to know that there is a definitive solution to questions as old as gardening itself: does the plant need water, does it need more light, should I fertilise the soil?
