Can Robot Lawn Mowers Run ‘Doom’? Exactly

Finally, humanity has found the perfect use for a $3,500 automated robotic lawnmower: playing Doom, ID Software's influential first-person shooter game from 1993.

After a talk at last November's DreamHack Winter event in Sweden, outdoor power equipment manufacturer Husqvarna announced on Friday that it will release an officially approved Doom port for the NERA line of automower robotic lawn mowers via a drop-in upgrade.

Husqvarna will make the first episode of the classic game available from April 9th ​​to September 9th, where it will be playable at approximately 30,000 AutoMower NERA units in the wild. Each Wi-Fi lawnmower is equipped with a small color display, as well as a motion control button and buttons for firing weapons, opening doors and more.

“The first team on the ID software boasted some great developers,” Björn Mannefred, robotics software engineer at Hisvarna, said in a press release. “In the year What they created with Doom in 1993 was world-class and set the stage for many of today's greatest games. They are also a great inspiration to us at Husqvarna.

“This is one hell of an update that both highlights the pioneering spirit that characterizes the engineers at Husqvarna and serves as a tribute to the Doom creators,” he added.

Of course you can Play Dom on a very expensive robotic lawnmower – but do you really want to? It may not be the most ideal way to experience the seminal shooter, but it sure is a unique place to experience an extremely intense video game.

It's also the latest example of what developers, hackers, and engineers are experimenting with. Doom up and get running On a really wide (and wild) collection of tools. Dom has been moved to everything from an ATM to a pregnancy test, an ultrasound scanner, a LEGO brick (with a screen), a digital price tag and even more. Intestinal bacteria.

It was a disaster Written on the Dogecoin blockchainWhile the game has been a knockoff clone It is committed to the Bitcoin blockchain.. Those are all unofficial ports and chats, but this lawnmower port comes with the blessing of ID software.

“Over the past 30 years, we've been continually amazed by the passion and ingenuity of the Doom community,” Ed Software Studio Director Marty Stratton said in a release. “The list of things that run Doom is impressive, and we're thrilled that robotic lawnmowers have finally been added to the list.

“The engineers at Husqvarna have done a fantastic job and we appreciate the creativity and enthusiasm,” continued Stratton.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.