I would be very interested, it would be a wonderful experience, but I don’t have programming skills, I can help in the initial stages of specification of the characteristics and in the mechanical design.
If I can help, I’d be really happy.
I would love a project like this. Also don’t have many of the skills.
See below for example:
Found this which was intriguing as well, its by one of the inventors of the Roomba and is designed to maintain a garden. One of the features that I liked was that its solar and just kind of sits in your garden and moves when its got a charge. If it works as advertised its pretty much drop and forget.
Tertill Robot Garden Weeder Review - Updated February 2023 - Hayk Saakian
I love that idea. No power needed, just set it down and leave it alone. That one even looks like it started as a 3D print.
Way more straight forward than what I had in mind…
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If there could be an automated remote control with the equivalent of closed loop feedback then a “yard slicer” software could plan a path like slicing for a print.
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I’d like a mower that can mow pictures in the grass. Put a picture in the slicer, lay over the perimeter of the grass, slice it, send it to the mower and the next day you see text or a picture in the grass.
I tried to teach some sheep to do this. Worked great, but they also ate the grass between the letters away…
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This would be hilarious. Drop in on the neighbor’s lawn in the middle of the night.
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Then we need a silent function as well.
Something like this, but then automated: Schatjes! (1984) [1080p HD AI Upscaled] - YouTube
(Dutch movie from the 80’s)
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James releases an Omnitrack V2 robot video tomorrow, he shared CAD/code already. Am looking forward to learning from his project experience, looks like another cool project. I like James approach openly sharing things that didn’t work well, what he tried out, and sharing his thought process along the way.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/XRobots/OmniTracks/main/V2
That said, for a 3DP+CNC’d mower, guessing 2WD or 4WD arrangement (depending on size) typically found in $$$ robot mowers would be simpler to build/control, and enable larger diameter cut area.
@cfg, thanks for sharing https://repalmakershop.com
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Yes I see the leaf hanging out of his mouth, but my eyes are way more drawn to those gargantuan FPV goggles… which apparently have a level on the side… I don’t even want to know lol.
So, I now have the Sparkfun GPS-RTK SMA GNSS receiver board working. I am getting position accuracy of about .5 inches, even when driving down the freeway at 60 MPH. I have searched YouTube for ZED-F9P mower and found a few good videos. One person (Kenny Trussell on YouTube) even converted his “Bad Boy” Zero-turn riding mower into a autonomous mower using this setup and software called Ardupilot or Ardurover to come up with the map to mow his yard. He sends it via a Radio connection to his RTK board and it mows his yard. He also uses the mower to haul a sprayer around is large home garden to fertilize it. so, that is my next step. Getting an RC car and putting my RTK setup on the car to see if that will follow a pattern on my yard like a mower would. Then, if that works, I’ll be in the market for a USED battery powered electric push-mower to make it mow my yard. So far, for the RTK part, I’ve paid about $300.
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@Jeffeb3
Hello Jeff! I hope you are well. I now have the SparkFun GPS-RTK-SMA board. I have downloaded and installed the Ublox U-Center software on my PC which is connected to the RTK board via USB-C cable. So, it is not mobile, yet. I have applied for and received Ohio and Kentucky CORS ( Continuously Operated remote Stations) internet access to their RTCM3 correction data. On my PC desktop, with my RTK board attached to my USB port and the cheap L1 only (not L2) antenna hanging out my home window, I have achieved an RTK fixed signal reliably in only a few minutes. I usually get a 2D accuracy of .0104 meters (< .5 inches) and a vertical accuracy of .0100, but vertical accuracy of RTK is up for debate. Still, it’s a pretty solid result. You, now, Sir, are my mentor. I have taken this system and driven along US freeways at 70 MPH and the accuracy does not diminish. It is fed via a Ohio State Department of transportation CORS internet connection via an NTRIP host in U-Center for the CORS correction signal.
Now, a robot mower could get a Wifi signal and get correction data via WiFi via the homeowner’s internet connection to their State’s CORS system. From what I am starting to learn, but do not fully understand, is that there is a Arduino GNSS Library from SparkFun that effectively lets the UBlox U-Center functionality reside in an ESP32 development board, on the lawnmower next to the SparkFun RTK board. So, similar to a very small Laptop with U-center on the mower with U-Center. It gets it’s RTK correction data via WiFi from the homeowner’s internet. It’s just a lawn being mowed, right? It can get homeowner’s wifi and the correction signals fromthat via the ESP32 Wifi connection. So, the accurate location of the mower is solved. There is open source software called ArduRover or ArduSimple or something like that where you can develop a waypoint of your yard and then use that to tell your mower how to efficiently mow your yard in a predictable left-down-right-down-left-down-right-down pattern to efficiently mow your lawn. Look up YouTube for a channel “Drone Dojo”. He used this sort of system to paint a smiley face on a park lawn with an RC car. An RC car is a lawnmower. It just doesn’t know it’s a lawnmower yet until you put the cutting device underneath it. I wouldn’t tell the RC car it’s a mower. It might have feelings for the grass. I’m being silly. What do you think, Jeff? I look forward to your comments and knowledge so I can fix it before I spend too much money.
Also, I am thinking that Local AM commercial radio stations can help acheive their FCC Public service requirements by broadcasting the local DOT CORS correction data on one of their Independent Sidebands for free. So a lawnmower would only need one RTK capable receiver and an AM receiver tuned to the local AM radio station’s sideband to receive the RTCM correction data. I know, a pipe dream, but it would be nice.
It looks like you have made a lot of progress and you are learning a lot. It is very neat that your house is contributing to the corrections.
Ardurover is a good control ecosystem. A coworker set some up a long time ago and they worked well. I bet they have only gotten better.
GPS works very good on freeways and the high speed actually helps get a better position estimate.
I now have an ESP32-WROOM-32D 36 pin module and a Waveshare 4.2 inch e-paper display. I chose this to be my rover display since it is easier to read in the sun. It is not a back-lit LCD panel. It does not rely on the brightness of pixels or leds to display information which can be difficult to read in full sun where a rover is probably going to be. This display type actually benefits from bright sunlight for visibility of the readouts. The only downside to this type of display is that it does not refresh quickly in it’s native mode of operation. It can take as much as 3 seconds to update the entire 4.2-inch display.
However, there is a mode called “Partial Update mode” on the newer waveshare e-paper display and libraries. So you can draw an image on the display with a full refresh but then in partial Update, you can only change the display in a certain area only much quicker. This is good, since I want to display the numbers for Lat, Long and Altitude and refresh the display at least once per second. So this “Partial Update” mode is a good thing. The other downside is that you should always do a complete full-screen refresh on this type of display every 30 or 60 seconds, I think. That is not a spec from the manufacturer.
I watched the YouTube channel APPLIED SCIENCE. He is a very smart person and he found ways to hack these displays in a hurtful way if you are not careful. Anyway, to avoid getting a screen with residual images like burn-in on crt displays, it is a good idea to refresh the entire screen at least every 30 or 60 seconds. It takes only a couple of seconds to do and it will increase the life of this type of display panel.
I am using an ESP-WROOM-32D module with 36 pis. It took me awhile to learn which pins on this board are for SPI. I don’t want to share my pins because they are different for each board and I don’t want to post something that might fry your ESP32 or your E-paper display. Do your research.
I am worried that connecting this ESP32 board to the GPS-RTK-F9P board is going to be SPI as well and conflict with my display.
I just downloaded the ArduinoGNSS library and imported it into the Arduino IDE. I go to examples from that library and I can see one that looks like the one I need. I have to configure my RTK board first in U-Center and flash those setting to the board. I then need to figure out how to get the correction data from the ESP32 to the ZED-F9P board. There are so many serial ports on this board! I don’t know which one to use, especially since I am using the ESP32’s SPI for the display. There are several UART ports. I don’t know, I’ll figure it out. Once I get the ESP32 to have a WiFi access port open and it is working with my display and the ZED-F9P, I’ll check back in. I can then, via a WiFi tether from my phone provide internet CORS correction data to my ROVER stick without carrying around a clunky laptop. Just my RTK Rover stick, my Cellphone providing WiFi internet to the Stick hardware and the e-paper display showing my RTK Fixed status and lat and long and elevation. Like “The Jerk” said, “This is all I need”
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Needs to be bigger. Alright for these little half acre plots in town, but bigger than 1 or 2 is a no go.
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We pay someone $25 to mow once a week. We only do that in the summer months, but even if that was 25 weeks/yr, the break even point for a robot mower is 4.5 years. I guarantee the human does better than the robot, and I don’t have to pay for electricity for the human. Do you think the robot will work longer than 4.5.years? I don’t.
This is a toy for someone who lives in San Fransisco (where salaries are high and services are expensive). It is a very cool toy, and if it was $400, I would get it. If I was making SF salaries, then I might too.
I have way more respect for someone trying to build their own. At that point, the money is entertainment and education.
This is pretty neat though. It uses differential GPS (I didn’t watch the video you linked, I watched the Linus Tech Tips one). The mechanics are interesting (the omni wheels on the front, for example).
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