Forbes - It’s summertime, which means millions of Americans like me are currently embroiled in a battle with the summer sun to keep our lawns green and healthy.
But while a green lawn is practically a birthright in America, droughts are becoming more frequent, which has caused local municipalities to call on us lawn keepers to be smarter with our water. In drought-plagued places like California, cities are handing out penalties for wasteful use and even rewarding cash those who convert their lawns.
Much of problem with wasteful watering is the simple fact that automated watering systems just aren’t very smart. In fact, if you have one like the old system in my house, you could say it’s even kinda dumb. This can be a problem because there are roughly 15 million or so underground watering systems like mine in the US, most of which have no ability to understand the current weather, monitor usage and control via an app.
One company that is looking to add more intelligence to lawn watering is Rachio, a Colorado based startup. Rachio makes the Iro Wi-Fi connected sprinkler controller, a device that can be used with most underground sprinkler systems and enables someone to control the watering of their lawn with a smartphone. Read More
