Suzanne Matta’s phone pings with an alert. Rosie is upside down. A glance at the app finds where in the yard Rosie is stuck, and Suzanne runs outside. Rosie is catawampus under a big spruce.
“Oh my gosh, Rosie, are you okay?” Suzanne helps the little robot off a tree root. After checking that Rosie’s four wheels touch ground, Suzanne taps a button, and Rosie toddles off to continue her silent work.
Rosie is not a living creature, but a robotic lawn mower about the size of a tortoise. To Suzanne, who refers to the machine as ‘she,’ Rosie is. A quasi-intelligent machine helping around the house? Far out. And Rosie helps quite a bit. The robot mows nearly an acre surrounding the Matta home.
