To mow its parks, Dublin turns to robots like "Mow-ana"

Dublin's newest park employees are not just hardworking and diligent, they also have punny names.

Why it matters: "Mow-ana" and "Mowbi-Wan-Kenobi," a pair of autonomous lawn mowers, mark the latest example of an area suburb embracing new technologies to carry out common municipal tasks like park and road maintenance.

• Dublin says the program will be more environmentally friendly and save the city money.

State of play: The suburb piloted the technology last year with an autonomous mower named "Lightning MowQueen." (We rate that name a C-.)

• The two extra mowers will be deployed in larger community parks.

The intrigue: The mowers are battery-driven, "virtually silent" and controlled via smartphone.

• They use ultrasonic sensors to detect obstacles and can slow down or collapse their blades when they encounter objects.