Geeks everywhere will love the new garden-oriented robotics. The Tertill is a weed whacker designed by Franklin Robotics (the company behind indoor vacuum robot Roomba). It roams the garden looking for plants shorter than one-inch, and trims them.
Farmbot, an open source garden robot, runs on game-like software that allows you to plan your garden, but also set up necessary maintenance – and you can keep an eye on it all from your laptop. This is a comprehensive robot, and the price tag proves it – about $4,000 USD. You can pre-order from the website Farm.bot and orders will start shipping this September.
The Kobi ( TheKobi.com ) mows and picks up leaves from the yard, with an attachment for mulching said leaves. Apparently, it can also clear snow from the driveway – and thanks to its wireless connection to the weather channel, it knows when snow is coming and will start shoveling immediately.
Photovoltaic transformers seem low-tech by comparison, but are highly effective and energy efficient for operating landscape lighting.