Re: [mowbot] Hello, and lots of ideas

Raymond Skarratt u (skar9500 nospam at mach1.wlu.ca)
Thu, 26 Sep 1996 16:13:39 -0400 (EDT)

This is exactly the kind of post I would like to concentrate on for the
time being.

>
> I want the maximally lazy option:
> * autonomous (I don't have to watch over it)

I would like this as well but I'm not sure how practical it will be. My
biggest worry is theft. My yard backs onto a school yard and I don't
have any real physical barriers between my nrighbor's yard and mine.
It's not the neighbour that I'm worried about though. :)

> * self-parking (I don't have to get it out, put it away or charge it)

Yeah I was thinking about this. I have a solution that I think will
solve my theft problem. I'll share it later.

> * no re-programming needed when it is moved to a new location
> (I have two disconnected lawns, and I probably won't want to build
> two mowbots since the front lawn is quite small)

Agreed. I do think that the option of a wire boundary is a good idea
though. A wire boundary is much easier than beacons or surface detection
IMHO.

> * no need to explicitly define boundaries (since I think the natural
> boundaries in my case are good enough)

See my above point.

>
> My implementation preferences are:
> * low power
> * low speed
> * quiet
> * ``nibbling'' cutter
> * solar powered, with provision for automatic top-up charging
> * 68HC11 micro
> These are negotiable.

I agree with all of these. Let's stick to what we want generally
though. Discussing the controller I know is going to become a very
heated debate so we will leave that for a topic on it's own.

Ray

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