Time to tune your new instrument… your lawnmower

Alex O'Sullivan

If your robotic lawnmower starts singing happy birthday this weekend, fear not, you’re not hallucinating!

Husqvarna, a market leader in robotic lawn mowers, has decided to give the Mars Curiosity Rover the birthday celebration it deserves as it celebrates it’s 10th birthday. Husqvarna has updated over 100,000 robotic lawn mowers around the world to enable them sing 'Happy Birthday' on 5 August as it is the Curiosity’s 10th birthday on Mars. Husqvarna will make the 'Happy Birthday' song available to owners of the three Automower models permanently from the beginning of September.

Björn Mannefred, Robotics Software Manager at Husqvarna said: "Curiosity is the largest and most advanced rover ever sent to Mars. On it’s very first birthday on Mars, it was engineered to sing 'Happy Birthday' to itself. In order to save on its batteries, its birthdays have passed unnoticed ever since. But this year there will be a change because nobody should have to sing 'Happy Birthday' to themselves, right?"

The thousands of Husqvarna Automower owners in Ireland will be notified about the update through the Husqvarna Automower Connect app where they will be asked to install the update. Consumers can then decide if they want to join the choir. If they accept, the Automower robotic mower will automatically start to sing at 12pm, 3pm and 6pm (local time) on 5 August, as an homage to Curiosity’s 10 year anniversary on Mars.

Jordan Healy from Husqvarna said: "We know that many of our robots have been given names by their owners – randomly we know of at least 15 that are called Dave! This activity is something fun in August when our Automowers are very busy in gardens around the country."

From a choir of robots on earth to the loneliest robot in the universe - happy birthday!