Man Uses Robohandles to Make Raking Leaves Easier on His Back

Changing fall leaves are so gorgeous— as long as they stay on the trees. Once they begin to fall, they stop being pretty and start being a huge lawn care annoyance. When you add in picking up the leaf piles after a thorough raking, and consider the complication of things like back troubles or aging, it becomes a health problem, too.

Granted, we recently discovered that you don’t even have to rake your leaves at all, so those of you who hate the whole traditional fall process can skip it if you really want to do so. But there is something to be said for raking, especially when it can yield fun moments in the piles with your family, or even just a gentle sense of calm – almost zen! – that comes from taking care of your lawn in the crisp autumn air.

Getting rid of those piles, though? Nothing fun or zen about that process. Since so many states and/or towns don’t allow burning leaves anymore – check your city’s website, or call town hall, to check on regulations in your area – that means that after you finally get all the leaves into piles, you have to pick them up and put them into trash bins. Even if you have those special claws to make grabbing them easier, you still have to bend down to grab them, straighten up, bend over the trash can to drop the leaves in— and then repeat, repeat, repeat. No wonder so many of us spend the winters nursing back problems!

Luckily, FIX IT Home Improvement Channel has a great idea to make picking up leaves not only faster and easier, but kind of fun and, most importantly, much easier on your ailing back! It involves a Robohandle, and it’s really clever. He attaches two of the Robohandles to rakes that’s he cut down to a comfortable size, and uses the combination as long, extended “claw arms” that allow you to pick up huge piles of leaves at once without bending at all. Genius!

Having a hard time picturing it? Don’t worry, not only is he going to demonstrate it for us all, he also has his older neighbor give it a try to show us that this solution is one that’s helpful to leave-rakers of all ages. Check it out!