Re: [mowbot] A modest proposal

Dana Gould (dgould nospam at usa1.com)
Fri, 27 Sep 1996 16:12:25 -0400

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> From: robin nospam at acm.org
> To: mowbot nospam at dragon.swansea.linux.org.uk
> Subject: Re: [mowbot] A modest proposal
> Date: Thursday, September 26, 1996 7:58 PM
>
> "Dana Gould" <dgould nospam at usa1.com> wrote:
> >
> > 2) lawn topography
> > low complexity - flat or almost flat, few or no obstacles
> > medium complexity - modest slopes, some obstacles
> > high complexity - hilly, many obstacles
>
> Isn't 2) in fact measuring two uncorrelated things: hilliness and
> number of obstacles?

Well, semi-correlated, the class of things that add
complexity to the guidance and navigation problem.
Steep hills need to be navigated carefully for example.
Even modest slopes can benefit from better
navigation.

> > As lawn size grows, then power requirements would
> > grow. Battery operation would be less practical
> > as you go from small to medium to large lawns. I
> > suspect from large to very large lawns, gas power
> > would become more practical.
> This neglects the very interesting possibility that several Mowbots could
> share the work on a large area.

Hmmm, assuming the mowbots can cooperate that could reduce
a large lawn problem to a medium or small lawn problem. But then
you add the complexity of coordinating several mowbots. If they
don't cooperate, then the problem would remain a large lawn
problem with its larger power requirements. Hmmm, I'm not
sure if the possibility is neglected exactly, but it does add another
dimension to the problem. I'll have to think about it.

Dana