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OpenMower – Open-source robot lawn mower [video]

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Re: OpenMower – Open-source robot lawn mower [video]

#31

Post by sokoloff »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #3

That's a pretty neat project that has the potential to get a lot of interest. I haven't looked at robotic mowers very deeply; currently I use an electric plug-in mower, which is about as non-automated as you can get. But I'm wonder if there are any that support changing the deck height for different areas of the yard. From a software POV, this seems doable but is there any hardware out there that supports this featur…

A worm gear driven by a DC motor with an end stop to “home” at max height wouldn’t be overly complex (and likely cheaper/more reliable than a stepper motor and screw thread as the worm gear can’t be back-driven, so you can power it down and it will hold position to well beyond the tolerances needed for mowing).

If you just wanted to switch between a small number of pre-set heights (and changing those heights could be manual), a cam arrangement is probably better.

Re: OpenMower – Open-source robot lawn mower [video]

#32

Post by H1Supreme »

How does this do on hills? This video shows a small, flat yard. Mine is many times this size, and has lots of elevation changes. I looked into robot mowers a few years ago, but I still would have had to mow at least 30% of my yard by hand because of the steeper parts (that really aren't that steep).

Re: OpenMower – Open-source robot lawn mower [video]

#33

Post by GLGirty »

blorenz wrote: post #27
voakbasda wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrong market. Make a model for farmers and rural citizens that don't care about the look of a rough cut. We just need to cut down a lot of grass regularly to prevent those areas from becoming a breeding ground for insects and rodents. Then use your revenues to iterate on a version for people that want a lawn that looks like plastic.

I'm the target demographic here. I have 5 acres of mostly non-wooded property. I just need it cut and don't care for striping or any of that. I was mowing with a zero turn with 48" deck. Last year we upgraded to a much bigger deck and the old 0turn sits idle. I wanted to tinker with it and do something similar to this to at least mow the "back 40" where there isn't much to navigate around.

Have you considered a low maintenance cover crop like no-mow grass or clover? They look like a good idea on paper, but are there side effects that are more trouble than the work of 'modern' lawn care?

Re: OpenMower – Open-source robot lawn mower [video]

#35

Post by karmicthreat »

H1Supreme wrote: post #32

How does this do on hills? This video shows a small, flat yard. Mine is many times this size, and has lots of elevation changes. I looked into robot mowers a few years ago, but I still would have had to mow at least 30% of my yard by hand because of the steeper parts (that really aren't that steep).

I worked in this space for a while. It’s a hard problem because none of the mowers take topology into account. Mostly they try to navigate a planned path along a 2d plane and just compensate to stay on their path. So the mower will attack elevation changes wrong.

Re: OpenMower – Open-source robot lawn mower [video]

#36

Post by voakbasda »

GLGirty wrote: post #33
blorenz wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm the target demographic here. I have 5 acres of mostly non-wooded property. I just need it cut and don't care for striping or any of that. I was mowing with a zero turn with 48" deck. Last year we upgraded to a much bigger deck and the old 0turn sits idle. I wanted to tinker with it and do something similar to this to at least mow the "back 40" where there isn't much to navigate around.

Have you considered a low maintenance cover crop like no-mow grass or clover? They look like a good idea on paper, but are there side effects that are more trouble than the work of 'modern' lawn care?

All of my grass is native, not a cultivated lawn. I also have a lot of acreage, and a cover crop would be prohibitively expensive to prep and seed.

Even if you can establish a perennial crop, the native grass can still creep back in and outcompete it. And if it can keep the grass down, the cover crop necessarily will grow enough to create the aforementioned problems with pests. You still gotta mow it periodically to keep everything under control.

Re: OpenMower – Open-source robot lawn mower [video]

#37

Post by voakbasda »

karmicthreat wrote: post #35
H1Supreme wrote: post #32

How does this do on hills? This video shows a small, flat yard. Mine is many times this size, and has lots of elevation changes. I looked into robot mowers a few years ago, but I still would have had to mow at least 30% of my yard by hand because of the steeper parts (that really aren't that steep).

I worked in this space for a while. It’s a hard problem because none of the mowers take topology into account. Mostly they try to navigate a planned path along a 2d plane and just compensate to stay on their path. So the mower will attack elevation changes wrong.

Even if you managed to get it to plan a smarter path, steep terrain usually requires bigger motors, aggressive tires, all-wheel drive, and better suspension. Even my big riding mower becomes useless on a hillsides or small depressions when even the slightest dew or rain slicks up the grass, and I still manage to get it stuck occasionally on the dry days.

Re: OpenMower – Open-source robot lawn mower [video]

#38

Post by ZeroGravitas »

voakbasda wrote: post #37
karmicthreat wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked in this space for a while. It’s a hard problem because none of the mowers take topology into account. Mostly they try to navigate a planned path along a 2d plane and just compensate to stay on their path. So the mower will attack elevation changes wrong.

Even if you managed to get it to plan a smarter path, steep terrain usually requires bigger motors, aggressive tires, all-wheel drive, and better suspension. Even my big riding mower becomes useless on a hillsides or small depressions when even the slightest dew or rain slicks up the grass, and I still manage to get it stuck occasionally on the dry days.

I've seen workers operate mowers on hillsides via ropes from the top.

The idea of a little robot mower "mountain climbing" by hooking a spike into the ground and using a pulley amuses me.

Re: OpenMower – Open-source robot lawn mower [video]

#39

Post by [deleted] »

wcchandler wrote: post #10

This was a pitch of mine. Replace traditional lawn care with automated solutions. I would’ve distributed this to ~6 mowers. That was the easy part. The hard part was making it look nice. The people that pay high prices for lawn care want it to look it a certain way. I couldn’t get over that hurdle. I could but it would’ve been me driving over the already cut grass with specific grooming tools, and effectively negatin…

[deleted]
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