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Remotely Controlled Lawn Tractor

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Re: Remotely Controlled Lawn Tractor

#61

Post by samatman »

ftrobro wrote: post #27
fennecfoxen wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Existing lawn robots still mostly rely on a buried cable to form a boundary-line. The next generation vision/lidar/gps systems are clearly in development but not commercially available in the US (the Segway NaviMow is available in Europe).

Husqvarna EPOS does not need physical boundary wires and seems to be available in the US too: https://www.husqvarna.com/us/discover/epos/

This year was the tipping point for the US market, they weren't readily available until late summer. I'll have a (ground) wireless lawn robot next year one way or another, it would bring me more satisfaction to build one but that doesn't mean I'll actually do it.

Re: Remotely Controlled Lawn Tractor

#62

Post by lettergram »

wongarsu wrote: post #29
lettergram wrote: post #23

I wanted to do the same with but with a large agricultural tractor. I think we are nearing the point where a camera can monitor my body movements and mimic it fairly accurately in a robot. Combine that with gloves for hand tracking, VR goggles, audio headsets and maybe haptic feedback and we can effectively have remote experiences. Once that’s the case, you put a robot in a tractor seat; add a bunch of cameras (for V…

I understand why you would do it, but using robot arms to control another robot seems like a lot of accidental complexity. Surely there has to be a generation of tractor that's new enough that most functions are exposed on CANbus but old enough that it isn't locked down yet?

my actual thought was if I could get it to work - big if - I could then move it to literally any tractor.

Effectively, I’d have a massive market.

Re: Remotely Controlled Lawn Tractor

#63

Post by ad404b8a372f2b9 »

Syonyk wrote: post #60
throwaway0a5e wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll be sure to keep your wisdom in mind next time I have to reset the way too conservatively sized circuit breaker integral to the contractor that runs in my fume extractors. Damn near anything can kill you. Context matters. In most cases a consumer lawnmower should probably have a deadman switch. Plenty of people have been hurt or killed over the years by poorly thought out fail "safes". It's easy to make low effor…

> * I'll be sure to keep your wisdom in mind next time I have to reset the way too conservatively sized circuit breaker integral to the contractor that runs in my fume extractors.* You might enjoy the NEC section on fire pump systems. It's a complete flip from the rest of NEC, requiring design around "Keep the fire pumps running at all costs, even if you're in the process of melting down the windings." Separate wirin…

On that topic, the Cathode Ray Dude posted a really interesting video yesterday talking about battle-shorts, a mechanism used to circumvent power relay fail-safes in military equipment. There were some interesting comments about other cases like the fire pump systems you mentions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpJ_6LCly4A

Re: Remotely Controlled Lawn Tractor

#64

Post by stinos »

z9znz wrote: post #55

Cool project, but why mow it all in the first place? Do yourself and absolutely nature a favor and let it grow. We need every patch of natural land we can get, as biodiversity and insect populations are continually decreasing. Mow some patches for the humans (because standing in a buggy tall field is just no bueno), but leave the rest for nature. Rent or borrow some goats or sheep if you really want it kept lower; at…

I completely agree with your point - pretty much everyone is now properly aware of the climate crisis but for a bunch of reasons biodiversity crisis doesn't ring a lot of bells let alone people are willing to do anything about it. However: depending on where you live not mowing at all turns your meadow into a rough wilderness with only a couple of plant species (think nettles+blackberries) in no time, and later on into forest. Main reason being nitrogen deposition leading to those species simply outgrowing the rest, as is the case for e.g. quite a lot of areas in western Europe (visuals in [1] for example).

So as far as biodiversity goes: there's enough of the typical 'no mowing' vegetation already whereas ecosystems like flower-rich meadows are in decline. Currently and practically for laymen this can only be countered by mowing and removing cuttings. Depending on soil type and what's in it fertlizer-wise about twice a year. Preferrably, as you mention, still with mowing patches instead of everything at once in order to maintain some habitat for the fauna. Still a lot less time and money consuming than maintaining a lawn.

[1] https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=nitrogen+deposition+map+eur...

Re: Remotely Controlled Lawn Tractor

#65

Post by stinos »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #57
z9znz wrote: post #55

Cool project, but why mow it all in the first place? Do yourself and absolutely nature a favor and let it grow. We need every patch of natural land we can get, as biodiversity and insect populations are continually decreasing. Mow some patches for the humans (because standing in a buggy tall field is just no bueno), but leave the rest for nature. Rent or borrow some goats or sheep if you really want it kept lower; at…

>but why mow it all in the first place? Because providing convenient habitat for grass dwelling rodents adjacent to your home will result in some fraction of them trying to move in.

Depending on where you live those rodents won't do any harm though. Or simply leave again because the cannot find food, which is like the #1 thing to deal with in case of rodents. Moreover you'd need a serious amount of 'deadzone' around your house before rodents won't cross it, no? It's not like they only can cover distances of few metres. All in all, this type of claim should be backed by research :) Curious if there is any.

Re: Remotely Controlled Lawn Tractor

#67

Post by fennecfoxen »

ftrobro wrote: post #27
fennecfoxen wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Existing lawn robots still mostly rely on a buried cable to form a boundary-line. The next generation vision/lidar/gps systems are clearly in development but not commercially available in the US (the Segway NaviMow is available in Europe).

Husqvarna EPOS does not need physical boundary wires and seems to be available in the US too: https://www.husqvarna.com/us/discover/epos/

That's new — but those are still $5000 models "designed for professional fleet use", a little on the steep side. I'd give it a little longer for that to percolate downmarket towards the likes of the Navimow which is around the €1500 level.

Re: Remotely Controlled Lawn Tractor

#68

Post by causi »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #47
WaitWaitWha wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes; any system that can kill you should be using dead-man's switch, requiring no positive input to halt, but positive input to continue.

I'll be sure to keep your wisdom in mind next time I have to reset the way too conservatively sized circuit breaker integral to the contractor that runs in my fume extractors. Damn near anything can kill you. Context matters. In most cases a consumer lawnmower should probably have a deadman switch. Plenty of people have been hurt or killed over the years by poorly thought out fail "safes". It's easy to make low effor…

What is this screed even trying to say? "Someone might reuse your failsafe in a way that actually makes it dangerous"? Then it's not a failsafe anymore and the second designer is an idiot. Like with the firehose example, it isn't the pumping that will kill you it's the not-pumping, therefore your failure state should halt the not-pumping.

Re: Remotely Controlled Lawn Tractor

#69

Post by logifail »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #49
throwaway0a5e wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll be sure to keep your wisdom in mind next time I have to reset the way too conservatively sized circuit breaker integral to the contractor that runs in my fume extractors. Damn near anything can kill you. Context matters. In most cases a consumer lawnmower should probably have a deadman switch. Plenty of people have been hurt or killed over the years by poorly thought out fail "safes". It's easy to make low effor…

This is really pedantic. The rule is any system that risks serious harm to a person in the course of normal operation should be fail-safe, not fail-dangerous. Examples include stuff with blades, hammers, or swinging arms moving at high speed or with great force.

> The rule is any system that risks serious harm to a person in the course of normal operation should be fail-safe, not fail-dangerous.

I used to work in a Chemistry lab, one in which one of my lab-mates once had a explosion while he heated something which wasn't what he thought it was.

I was the guy who phoned for the ambulance (and got the fire service included for free, but maybe that makes sense if you work in a lab). I went to the front entrance to meet the firefighters as instructed, after identifying myself they asked me "do you have anything dangerous in your lab?"

I was probably still high on the adrenaline (there had been a fairly loud bang and the glass side windows of my colleague's fume hood were blown out) but I recall being unable to answer that question. I think I eventually said "Yes, of course we have dangerous stuff, you have anything particular in mind?"

Context really does matter!

Re: Remotely Controlled Lawn Tractor

#70

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

lettergram wrote: post #62
wongarsu wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand why you would do it, but using robot arms to control another robot seems like a lot of accidental complexity. Surely there has to be a generation of tractor that's new enough that most functions are exposed on CANbus but old enough that it isn't locked down yet?

my actual thought was if I could get it to work - big if - I could then move it to literally any tractor. Effectively, I’d have a massive market.

I think the biggest problem you'd run into is that people are cheaper than your automation. A 16 year old will run your tractor all day for minimum wage.
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