Home Assistant's latest update, version 2023.9, marks a significant milestone with the introduction of a much-anticipated entity: robotic lawn mowers. Even though they are everywhere (and perhaps causing more destruction than you would know, there hasn't been a special place for them within the Home Assistant ecosystem yet. While summer is gradually winding down in the Northern Hemisphere (home to a significant chunk of our readership), this new addition may not really come into its own until next year. Nevertheless, as the adage goes, better late than never.
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Home Assistant Adds Enhanced Control and Convenience to Robotic Lawn Mowers
At the outset, the operational arsenal for these automated grass trimmers will be confined to three essential commands: start, pause, and return to dock. As a novice in the realm of robotic lawn mowers, I'm somewhat in the dark concerning the array of features their official apps proffer. That said, [custom integrations like the one for Husqvarna Automowers](# Husqvarna Automower) do empower you to tweak settings such as the cutting height and headlight mode.
The Robotic Lawn Mowers Home Assistant Plans to Support
Home Assistant 2023.9 will initially only throw its weight behind MQTT lawnmowers. What's the upshot of this for you? Your model probably won't make the initial cut. In reality, no model is anticipated to be compatible with this novel feature right out of the gate. While projects like Robonect, which introduces Wi-Fi capabilities to Gardena, Husqvarna, Flymo, and McCulloch robotic lawn mowers, exist, they may require some calibration to be compatible with this new entity.
What's probable, though, is the emergence of several integrations leveraging this entity before we bid adieu to this year. Home Assistant already has a working relationship with a few robotic lawn mowers, including a selection of Worx models. With this groundwork in place, it shouldn't be a Herculean task to transform them into fully-fledged lawn mower entities. I also foresee a blossoming of the feature set in the not-too-distant future.
