Updated Radio astronomers have moved to block the roll-out of an army of robotic lawnmowers in a submission to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The boffins claim that iRobot's deployment of the machines will interfere with their federally-funded radio astronomy.

iRobot, well known for the Roomba robot vacuum cleaner but also a producer of military and policing robots, filed a request in January for the FCC to waive a prohibition on the outdoor use of a particular frequency range, so that iRobot could take its robotic lawnmowers (RLMs) to market.

In the filing, iRobot described its RLMs as "battery-operated, self-propelling lawnmowers that rely on portable beacons placed in multiple locations on a lawn. The beacons transmit information to the RLM that enables the RLM to map out and stay within a designated mowing area".

The robots are designed to operate in the 6240-6740 MHz frequency range. However, the FCC has a blanket prohibition on unlicensed operations of wideband systems within the 5925-7250 MHZ band.

The FCC noted that "Section 15.250(c) states that '[e]xcept for operation onboard a ship or a terrestrial transportation vehicle, the use of a fixed outdoor infrastructure is prohibited' for such systems, and that '[a] fixed infrastructure includes antennas mounted on outdoor structures, e.g., antennas mounted on the outside of a building or on a telephone pole'."

The FCC acknowledged that its Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) was reviewing the request that the clause be waived, and that it was also allowing "interested parties" to submit comments on the issue as per protocol.

Scientists from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) have filed a comment and explained: "The purpose of singling out this frequency band is to allow interference-free observation of the 6.66852 GHz spectral line of methanol (CH3OH), that is abundant in star-forming regions and serves as a galactic beacon of star-forming activity owing to its maser-like qualities."

Adding that this "also allows the Observatorys telescopes to do a kind of celestial cartography that measures distances to star-forming regions with high precision, charting the course of galactic evolution".

In its waiver request, iRobot states that while Section 15.250(c) prohibits "fixed outdoor infrastructure" the use of the portable beacons does not fall under the rule as it would not "establish a wide area communications system or network".

This is disputed by the NRAO. The astromers are not opposed to RLM operations in general, but have objected to the robots' potential capacity to degrade the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) in West Virginia.

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Astronomers battle plague of BLADE-WIELDING ROBOTS