I did just have the thought of mounting a infrared emitter/detector pair
parallel to the ground at a height slightly higher than the blade (and in
front of the blade so it doesn't see the blade). Then as the robot moves
forward, uncut grass will cause interruptions in the beam of light
whereas cut grass will make no interruptions and could be used as a
signal to turn and look elsewhere for uncut grass. You would have to
have the IR pair in tubes (to block out most outside light sources) and
would have to place them carefully to insure they don't get blocked by
cut grass thrown off by the blade.
Or you could mount two pairs of these, one on each front corner of the
mower with a 2 ro 3 inch gap between the emitter and detector. A broken
signal on one and an unbroken signal on the other would tell you that one
half the mower is in uncut grass and the other in cut grass and could
tell you which way to turn to find uncut grass. Or you could
intentionally make it keep one side in uncut grass and the other in cut
grass. Then you could manually mow a strip around the outside of your
yard, set the mowbot down on the cut edge of the grass and it should go
around and around until all grass is mowed.
On Fri, 30 Apr 1999 17:54:33 EDT RBrull nospam at aol.com writes:
> In a message dated 99-04-30 17:09:35 EDT, you write:
>
> << I am as well, although I think yours is the first message I have
> received
> since subscribing.
>
> Anyone out there have a working mowbot that they would like to
> share
> specs on? I am currently working on one utilizing the following:
>
> Power: 12v 5A battery
> Drivetrain: Two car power window motors with worm gear.
> Cutting blade: Nylon blade adapter intended for use on string
> trimmers.
> Cutting motor: Not sure yet, but probably a car heater fan motor or
> similar.
> Brains: PIC Microprocessor
> Grass cutting pattern: Random
> Obstacle avoidance: ??? Suggestions??? Probably a combination of
> buried
> wire for perimeter sensing and touch sensors to avoid obstacles in
> the
> middle of the yard.
> >>
> How do you plan to have it sense the grass it has cut?
> Richard Brull
>
Adam Bryant (age 0x23)
abryant nospam at peaktech.com (work)
adamdb nospam at juno.com (home)
Parker, CO, USA
Robotics, RC Airplanes, anything using a PIC
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