I just played Doom on a robot lawnmower — and it kicked grass
"If it has a processor, it can run Doom" is an old saying among computer nerds. The 1993 classic has been ported to so many weird and wonderful devices, from potato-powered graphing calculators to pregnancy tests, and MWC 2024 has just added another machine to the list. A robot lawnmower.
We saw two Husqvarna lawn mowers on the MWC show floor, and not only were they running Doom, they were actually running Doom multiplayer. That’s right, these lawnmowers were networked and I was able to play competitive Doom against Tom’s Guide Managing Editor Jason England. Who, I will admit, is a lot better at Doom than I am.
In my defence the controls are a little fiddly. Doom is playable on Husqvarna’s Nera range, which features three buttons, one of which doubles as a spinning dial. The dial controls the camera, while tapping it lets you shoot both demons and marines alike. They’re both equally killable in the world of Doom — especially if I’m behind the controls.
The Start button moves you forward, while Stop opens up doors. It does not, as I feared, turn off the game and ruin everyone’s nice time in the process.
Of course this is a lawnmower, rather than a tablet or a smartphone, so you’ve got a very limited amount of screen space to work with. The screen in the Nera lawnmowers is just 2.8 inches in size, with QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) resolution — the kind of specs that would be considered borderline unusable on a smartphone.
Fortunately Doom is over 30 years old, and doesn’t need fancy large, high-resolution displays. I certainly didn’t have any issues playing on the Nera screen, though I did have to lean in pretty darn close.
This isn’t just a case of Husqvarna adding Doom to their lawnmower just because. That’s apparently how it started, but it’s now evolved into an official partnership with id Software. Doom will be available from April for Nera lawnmower owners who register their interest, and will be available until early September.
Unfortunately only the Nera mowers are compatible, and those of you with older Husqvarna robot lawnmowers will be left out. So if you have the insatiable need to play Doom on a lawnmower, you’ll have to conjure up $2,000 for the privilege.
Though you will also get a robot that can mow the lawn for you, which could be nice if you have a large lawn. I know it would stop my girlfriend from pestering me to mow our lawn every couple of weeks. Though it does all hinge on you being able to tear yourself away from Doom for a little while.
