What I do is rig my gas self-propelled mower to run by itself, attach it to
a plastic coated steel cable, then let it wind itself up on a big spool. A
couple large circles cover most of my back yard. It's probably not the
safest method but it works for me in a very controlled situation.
Anyway, I finally took the time to take pictures and write it up so I could
enter it in a home automation contest on the HomeToys web site. For those
who are interested, it is entry #4 at
<http://www.hometoys.com/contest/contest.htm>. It even has a link to the
mowbot site. I'd appreciate your vote if you like it. By the way, the
HomeToys web site is a great place for all sorts of home automation
information. Be sure to check it out if you're interested in such things.
I've received a few questions about details so I hope to write up some
clarification and draw a few diagrams. I'll put it on my web site when I do
and I'll be sure to let everyone here know.
This has taken my mowing time from three hours to a little over one hour.
Hopefully that will translate into my mowbot getting finished one of these
days. :)
-- Doug Smith * dsmith nospam at execpc.com <http://www.execpc.com/~dsmith>