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Lawnmower in the News — Parallax Forums

Lawnmower in the News

ercoerco Posts: 20,256
edited 2012-06-26 14:41 in Robotics
On Yahoo's landing page: http://realestate.yahoo.com/blogs/spaces/happens-robot-mows-lawn-234436264.html

$1800. Surely we can come up with a cheap & cheesy RoboMop-style alternative.
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?140550-RoboMop-Are-You-Kidding-Me

Perhaps a small goat under an inverted laundry basket with a few LEDs? Brother Ken said Rocklin unleashed a fleet of goats to mow the neighborhood. The precedent has been set!

Comments

  • xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
    edited 2012-06-24 08:58
    I hear the rogoat mower comes with free fertilizer :)
  • tobdectobdec Posts: 267
    edited 2012-06-24 10:14
    If only I had learned uC's while I was younger...(I know you 40 plus's are going 22! you kid!) I could have built a lawnbot of my own and saved myself the labor. I actually tried once..allbeit it was a joke of an attempt..ever watched a 10 year old try to make a laid down box fan hacked together with an RC truck mow the lawn? Looking back even I'm laughing pretty hard! My dad still gives me grief over it lol!
  • JohnGayJohnGay Posts: 57
    edited 2012-06-25 11:07
    I've got this http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?139770-iMow-project

    It's got a bad gear and one of the motor mounts is slightly melted, but I have hopes of running this from my Prop or Arduino someday.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2012-06-25 13:06
    @JohnGay: Nice project, thanks very mulch for the update. :)
  • LaserLinesLaserLines Posts: 14
    edited 2012-06-26 12:43
    Sure it may mow like a RoboMop mops, but it has lots of moving parts to mesmerize the observers.
    http://twichel.com/projects/plowboy/botimages/miscpic/page_2130.asp
    I'm with erco on the wood is good philosophy.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2012-06-26 13:36
    Beautiful laser cut work, LaserLines! Do you have any videos of your Twichels in action?
  • LaserLinesLaserLines Posts: 14
    edited 2012-06-26 13:58
    erco wrote: »
    Beautiful laser cut work, LaserLines! Do you have any videos of your Twichels in action?

    Thanks for the support.The videos are waiting for my camera skills to progress to the point where my videos are not mistaken for LOL Cats in a blender.
  • Dave HeinDave Hein Posts: 6,347
    edited 2012-06-26 14:09
    Do you have any pictures with the reel attached? It appears that you have built a small robotic hay swather. :) Does it leave the grass in small windrows, which are then bailed up a few days later by a robotic hay-bailer? :)
  • LaserLinesLaserLines Posts: 14
    edited 2012-06-26 14:41
    Dave Hein wrote: »
    Do you have any pictures with the reel attached? It appears that you have built a small robotic hay swather. :) Does it leave the grass in small windrows, which are then bailed up a few days later by a robotic hay-bailer? :)

    Ok, now I'm inspired to dig this back out. It got put away in the fall, and life keeps getting in the way of cool tinkering. The reel is indeed inspired by a swather. It was added for exactly the same reason, the triangular teeth of the cutting bar were pushing the grass away instead of cutting it. The reel holds the grass long enough to get cut. Then The cut grass falls all over everything, especially moving parts.

    The bailer came to me in a dream. It would rake the grass into windrows, pick up and straighten a bundle of grass, then stop and wrap it with thread in the shape of two inch tall scarecrows, dump it, and go collect more cut grass. A third bot would pick up the "scarecrows" and pile them in a small wagon. In this dream I was selling the scarecrows for $1 / dozen and making a killing. Man was I disappointed when I woke up and had to go to my job. I did draw out how it worked in a notebook, then I realized building it was beyond my skill set.

    If I can find a pic with the reel I'll post it. I'm inspired to try to make the mower run a little better anyway. So far it is not even smart enough to stay in the yard. Now I have a propeller on a breadboard. Time to spend some time learning and playing.
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