DIY robot lawn mower

[Two-Stroke]

The springs are needed because of the DC motors which can generate full torque in
a faction of a second. when I first started programing the drive software and I got it
wrong it could go from full speed forward to full speed reverse in one second, without
the springs all my motor mount brackets would need to be much stronger.


Tommy
All opinions expressed are mine alone, and subject to change as information is gained.

Ahh... it's for the motor.

One of the selling points of the Tesla car is the instant response. You get used to it but all gasoline engines have a lag between the time you press the throttle and the time the power is applied. Electric engines have no such lag.

 

[Tommy]

Last night I got a chance to check out the new gear boxes on George, seems perfect..

But, because I had to let the air out of George's tires to get it to clear the pickup's bed cap(1" too tall)
I had to remove the tires to get them aired up, thats when I spotted a problem.

A missing snap ring that keeps the chain link together, So glade I spotted it now.

Tommy
All opinions expressed are mine alone, and subject to change as information is gained.

 

[Two-Stroke]

Tommy-

What does your mom think of George? I'm sure that she appreciates all that you do for her but how does she feel about the controls, etc? Are you having to adapt the "user interface" as you go? It would be fun to hear from her in this thread.

 

[Tommy]

What does your mom think of George?

While I have not given my mom control of George yet, I'm sure she'l be fine once she does.
three years ago I had a web site that needed daily changes to the HTML and because I'm
always on the lookout for things to keep her busy, I showed her how to do it and then gave
the job to her, while I did have to write some software to make it easier on her, she did pick
it up and was able to do the job, I hoping the same thing happens with george. I will have to
make changes to the user interface, like.. now I'm using a small palm sized keyboard for manual
control, but for my mom I'l have to go to a joystick , she'l have problems dealing with the
small keys on a small keyboard.

Once I get all the bugs worked out of George I'l give her a try at it, but I have to be very careful
not to give george a chance to scare her.

Theirs been a few times over the last three months that george has scared me.

Tommy
All opinions expressed are mine alone, and subject to change as information is gained.

 

[Two-Stroke]

While I have not given my mom control of George yet, I'm sure she'l be fine once she does.
three years ago I had a web site that needed daily changes to the HTML and because I'm
always on the lookout for things to keep her busy, I showed her how to do it and then gave
the job to her, while I did have to write some software to make it easier on her, she did pick
it up and was able to do the job, I hoping the same thing happens with george. I will have to
make changes to the user interface, like.. now I'm using a small palm sized keyboard for manual
control, but for my mom I'l have to go to a joystick , she'l have problems dealing with the
small keys on a small keyboard.

Once I get all the bugs worked out of George I'l give her a try at it, but I have to be very careful
not to give george a chance to scare her.

Theirs been a few times over the last three months that george has scared me.

Tommy
All opinions expressed are mine alone, and subject to change as information is gained.

That's a good idea. Before you changed George's gear ratio, he could do 20mph -- potentially scary given that he has spinning blades.

Please keep us posted.

 

[Tommy]

There is one other big consideration, George can't frustrate my mom, and I can see
snow and ice as a big source of frustration. I put some grey cells on that problem and think
I have a plan. feel free to offer any ideas.

Tommy
All opinions expressed are mine alone, and subject to change as information is gained.

 

[Tommy]

George's first snow!

YouTube - george_0001.wmv

Tommy

 

[Two-Stroke]

George's first snow!

YouTube - george_0001.wmv

Tommy

Wow, George is a pretty powerful machine.

Thanks for posting the video.

Has your mom used it yet?

 

[Tommy]

Has your mom used it yet?

Two-Stroke
While she has stopped over to watch me work on George I will not pushed her to take control
until I have that warm & fuzzy feeling about George(trust is earned, not programed). and as you
can see from the video George is still not ready for low care operations(weatherproofing). this
next weekend I hope to take George back to the shop to install plow lifting(farm&fleet had a sale
on 2000lb 12Vdc winches for $49.00).

While the first test of snow plowing did go good IMO, It did point out the need to lift the plow.
it also showed the Gyro is not going to work as intended(back to the drawing board).

Tommy

 

[dusty-t]

Very cool thread , very cool project. I read the whole thread last night. I have very limited knowledge of electronics and computers, but this is still very interesting to me. Please keep us posted. You are doing great.:biggrin: Dusty