posted 08-07-2022 12:11 PM               

From Earth to Space, Husqvarna Hosts Worldwide Birthday Celebration for NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover

Over 100K Husqvarna Robotic Mowers to Sing Happy Birthday to World's Loneliest Robot on its 10th Birthday; New Update Offers Family and Friends Birthday Song for Automower

The most advanced data-collecting robot ever sent to Mars was engineered to sing Happy Birthday to itself, and did so on its first birthday in Space. Sadly, since 2012 its birthdays have gone uncelebrated in order to save battery life. To celebrate its love of robots as the World Leader in Robotic Mowing, Husqvarna decided this year will be different. Husqvarna has developed a new program for Automower robotic lawn mower, enabling it to sing Happy Birthday.

"As our robots on earth are so loved and so much part of family life, we thought we'd extend that love all the way into space," says Linda Lindqvist, Product Manager Robotics at Husqvarna. "From a choir of robots on earth to the loneliest robot in the universe – Happy Birthday!"

The update is available to a total of 100,000 Automower around the world — models 405X, 415X and 435X AWD – and will become available permanently in September for Automower owners as a modern way to add joy to future birthday celebrations.

This initiative derives from Husqvarna's long history of engineering and innovation, where robotic lawn mowers have played an important role in the company's success. With technology based on the Automower robotic mower's existing alarm signal, Husqvarna used the integration platform IFTTT to enable the mowers to sing Happy Birthday. Husqvarna has been working with IoT and external third-party solutions for years, for example Google Home, Amazon Alexa and IFTTT.

"For us this is a way to pay homage to the great engineering work of NASA, and that of our extensive team of robotic experts, by letting our robotic mowers celebrate a fellow robot…nobody should have to sing Happy Birthday to themselves, right?" noted Björn Mannefred, Robotics Software Manager at Husqvarna.

Automower owners of the 405X, 415X and 435X AWD models that have the latest firmware installed will be notified about the update through the Husqvarna Automower Connect app where they have the opportunity to opt in and join the choir pre-event. If they accept and follow the necessary steps, Automower robotic mower will automatically sing at 12, 3 and 6 pm (local time) on August 5th, as a fitting homage to Curiosity's 10-year anniversary on Mars.