Greetings forums!
For a summer project my buddy and I have decided to try and make a robotic lawn mower. We are 2 computer science students with basically no robotics experience. I have a bit of background in remote controlled vehicles.
Anyway, we have bought a standard push mower, but due to budget and availability issues, it is not self-propelled. Because of the design of our lawnmower, we thought it would be easier to make it a front wheel drive system with an Ackermann-style steering set-up.
Now here’s where you come in. We really don’t have any idea what sorts of parts we need for the robotics. My partner figured we would need 2 drive motors and one steering motor. I also thought a logical half-way point would be to make the lawn mower remote-controlled and then just replace the user with a computer. Is that a good idea? Any words of advice or suggestions? We’re wandering in the dark right now and could use a bit of light 
Thanks
Ace
Well ive just started piecing together my robot lawn mower. Nibbles is his name.
Ill tell you about my plan so far.
4 geared 30rpm 12v dc drive motors for a skid steer platform with around 6" wheels.
12v geared motor for the cutter 3800 rpm. plastic disk on that with small blades bolted on to it. This is going to require some experimentation.
Then ardino for the brains. and fortunately in my case my whole yard has walls around it so 4 corner bump sensors is all that is required.
3 motor controllers pololu…
10w solar panel on top with a voltage regulator
12v gell cell for the power.
chassis made from PVC sheeting 10mm all screwed and glued. needs to be water proof due to the sprinklers.
few other bits and bobs.
So i have the plan all sorted and now im waiting on the parts to arrive if robotshop ever gets them in stock and sends them.
The hard part for me is ive never used an ardino before and don’t have very much experience programming anything. So i know what i want it to do i just have to work out how to tell it to do it. I ordered one of those inventor sets so i can have a crack at a few easy things first and then put it all together.
Ill see how i get on.
Well ive started building still waiting on some parts.
This is what ive got so far all made from 10mm PVC sheet
http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/xx241/angusthebruce/IMAG0110.jpg
I’m impressed. Good work. You could add a few features, perhaps, that have been mentioned, but overall its a good start at something that could possibly be incredibly precise, eventually. My hats off to you for your innovation of lawn mower.
Hi RoboMower and welcome to the RobotShop Forum.
There is a similar thread referring to an autonomous lawn mower here. Building an R/C lawn mower is about as straightforward as building a larger normal R/C vehicle. You’ll need two gear motors, an appropriate DC motor controller (either one single controller for each motor or a dual motor controller), battery pack for the motors and the RC transmitter and receiver. If the lawn mower you have has all four wheels fixed, you’ll need to change the design. You should not need a “steering” motor if you use two drive motors (this is “skid steering”). Use the drive motor sizing tool to get an idea of the motors you will need, then choose an appropriate DC motor controller and battery pack.
I love the wheels. Front bumpers make sense. Keep those images coming.
Those wheel spikes are awesome, in case the neighbour’s robot lawn mower causes trouble hehe. Very Mad Max!
Hello there!
I have little time to start in the world of robotics, mobile robots is always a good start. Thanks for the information @cbenson , those tools are really useful for the choice of engine drivers. Similarly, if you @robomower need additional material (introductory) to control the motors, you can visit this page that uses an arduino Arduino motor controller and a H-Bridge (commonly strategy to control DC motors) to control the vehicle.
