Your lawn is overgrown. Your house gutters are clogged. But you'd rather relax on your sofa, lounge chair and/or hammock than do yard work. The solution: Have a robot do the work for you.

While the age of a fully automated life-of-convenience a la The Jetsons might still by a ways away the future is now when it comes to cleaning your gutters and mowing your lawn. There are two robots—robots you can purchase today —that will do both tasks for you.

The Looj, from the venerable personal robot manufacturer iRobot, resembles a miniature elongated tank. On one end of the tank is an auger on which a hard bristle brush spins. On the other end is a bendable, flexible antennae that allows you to operate your Looj via remote control from up to 200 feet (60 meters) away.

To use the Looj simply place it in your gutter and send it back and forth using the remote control—the bristles will send the debris in your gutter flying. The Looj typically needs about 10 minutes to clean 60 feet (18 meters) of gutter, but then time isn't so critical when the Looj is doing all the work.

What's most cool about the Looj is that the design makes it easy to use. The Looj is lightweight and comes with a belt holster, so you can use both your hands to climb a ladder up to your gutter. The Looj remote control doubles as the Looj's handle so there are a minimum of pieces to futz with. And the Looj is submersible; to clean it all you need to do is hose it down.

Check out the video, below, for a demonstration.

There are several so-called automatic lawn mowers on the market. With some you can start mowing your lawn not too long after you open the box . . . if your lawn is flat . . . and if you bag the cut grass soon after the mower cuts it . . . and if you guide the mower by remote control. But the whole point is to do less work, right?

The Robomow is different. It mows your lawn all on its own (like the iRobot Rumba vacuum cleaner). But for it to work effectively you first need to bury a thin wire around the perimeter of the grassy area you want the Robomow to cover, like you might do with an invisible fence for a dog. Next you have to guide your Robomow via remote control to the center of your yard so that it can orientate an internal compass. Then you have to guide it back to its charging base station.

That one-time setup finished, you need not worry about mowing your lawn again! For as long as you like, the Robomow will continuously mow your lawn. When the battery charge starts to run low the Robomow will automatically return to its charging station. When it is raining, or the grass is too wet to mow, the Robomow will automatically stay dormant under shelter. When your kitchen dishes are dirty the Robomow will automatically wash them.

Well, okay, maybe it won't clean your dishes. But it will keep your grass continuously looking freshly mowed. There's not even a need for you to bag the cut grass because the Robomow has a unique automatic mulching system. And it can handle hills as steep as 15 to 18 degrees (depending on the model).

Besides the fact that the Robomow mows grass darn well perhaps its best feature is that it is safe to keep in your yard unattended. The Robomow comes with an anti-theft system. The operating controls require a PIN number to work, preventing curious kids from messing with your mower. There are a variety of other child proof safety features on the Robomow too—if it is lifted, or if it leaves your lawn's perimeter for any reason, the Robomow will automatically shut down. So you needn't worry about your Robomow hurting anyone, mowing your neighbor's yard or turning into HAL. Simply sit back, pour yourself another margarita and enjoy your lawn.

Check out a video of Robomow doing its thing, below.

_{When again will some one ask you for your thoughts, experiences, worries or hopes concerning yard work robots? Share yours in a comment, below:}

Note: This article is part of a HubMob, in which a group of writers here at HubPages converge on a single weekly topic. This week's topic is Green Thumb Hubbers: Landscaping, gardening and loving your yard. (Though this article would perhaps go better under "Avoiding your yard"). Click here to see all the other articles on the same topic or check out the two samples, below.

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