I'm all for keeping the yard manicured. I'm just not all for sweating my ass off doing it. Especially now that my Saturdays and Sundays are gonna be filled with college and pro football.

Helping get your lawn down to a height acceptable to the homeowners association, with minimal effort, is the new Automower 220 AC, a fully automatic robotic lawnmower from Husqvarna.

Handling yards up to 1/2 acre in about 45 minutes, the Automower can cut rain or shine, day or night, 365 days a year. The on-board timer lets you select when and how often. And you don't have to be robotic engineer to program it. All you do is line your lawn with a guide wire and the on-board navigation system monitors its position relative to the wire, moving it around your yard. The LCD settings screen lets you personalize any of the settings easily, and get back to your hammock.

The all-terrain style rear wheels let it navigate the toughest ground, and deal with slopes up to 35 degrees. If it encounters obstacles taller than 6-inches, it'll bounce off and head in another direction.

Powered by electricity, rather than gas, the 220AC has no exhaust or emissions, and will guide itself back to its recharging stand when the power runs low. So there's no risk of it quitting in the middle of the yard like you usually do. And in case there's a curious kid in your area, who may want to pick the 19-pound Robomower up to see how it works, the blades automatically stop spinning once the wheels come off the ground. It's got built-in theft prevention too, a personal 4-digit code is required to operate the mower, and there's an alarm should one of your neighbors decide to "borrow" it.

Sure for $2300 you can get some kid to mow your yard about 100 times, but the Robomower won't bail on your to go to the beach, or egg your house if you complain about the job it did.

$2,299.95
www.automower.com