Lawnbott with GPS navigation

[Dennis]

I have been an owner of an Evolution since 2006 that has seen numerous wheel and blade motors replacements.
What I would really like to see is a truly effecient mowing machine with a GPS mapping system and naviggational capabilities.

In a typical average side yard given straight line mowing this would effectively greatly reduce the mowing time of the current inefficient robot mowers in the marketplace today (other than the Bigmow). This in turn would greatly reduce the actual run time on all motors and a motor with a avg lifespan of 1-2 years might actually get the touted 8-10 years

I see where the technology is already here and not just with the high priced commercial grade Bigmow.

There are two new robotic vacuums that have this new GPS mapping system -they scan and map out the rooms before starting and then vacuum in straight effecient rows. The other amazing thing is their cost is only a few hundred dollars more than the popular roomba. ( i believe the new vacuum mfg is Neato Inc.)   

I am sure if the technology exists for the robot vacuums this can also be part of lawnmowers.
Has anyone heard of a robot lawnmower mfg (other than Bigmow) developing the robot lawnmoer with GPS?
Dennis

 

[RobotLady]

Preaching to the choir; your suggestion is sorely needed, but it's not very simple to solve.  It always sounds simple on paper (just use GPS), but when one considers that GPS is accurate to 10 feet (needs to be 1"), that yards can be oddly shaped, have bumps, hills and obstacles, grass can be either wet or dry, it's not as easy as the indoor vacuuming problem.

This competition aims to solve this problem:  [url]http://www.automow.com/ /url]   

I am glad there are people working on it.  The rule book has gotten more advanced over the years.  The one I saw a few years ago only consisted of a square rectangular field with no obstacles.  Now they have a basic and advanced level that has odd shapes, but it looks like they are still on flat ground.

I think it's going to take awhile, unless some genius works on it on his own time and decides to make it available to upgrade our mowers.  Wouldn't that be nice?   

Meanwhile, we are working to add motor refurbishing to our business.  This will help keep the maintenance cost down in the meantime.  Stay tuned... We'll have more information about this when it becomes available.

[jzawacki]

I believe Dennis is using the wrong terminology.  Scanning and mapping your surroundings isn't GPS, they just use rangefinders.  Really, there is no reason the technology couldn't be used in these situations as well.  I mean, it's been used in demos for a robot to deliver a pizza a few blocks away, all the while avoiding people along it's route as well as "simple" tasks as delivering a can of pop from across the room while avoiding couches and pets.

Now, I'm not saying it isn't a great idea, but from my experience (LB3200), these guys have a hard enough time building something reliable at all, not including all the real "techie" gadgets that could be used.  I posted (other forum) in the past how easy it would be to use an accelerometer (including data/graphs) to detect when the bot is stuck so they could do infinite smart spirals and the like.  Cost to add an accelerometer?  Around $5, not including the multiple years of engineering it would take for them to get it right.

One of the problems I have, is if you break down the real technology inside of one of these things, I just can't seem to figure out how to justify the $3,000 price tag.  Don't get me wrong, I'd do it again in a heart beat and it's worth twice that in my opinion (if it didn't break down so easy).  But, look at the hardware in a Nintendo Wii for example (on the techie side of things).  And it's $200.  For the mechanical side of things, look at your standard electric power mower.  You can pick one up for $300.  So, if you could marry those two, you'd still have $2,500 left over for robotic mowing specifics.  And if you look at the programming involved with the current models.. they are pretty darn dumb.  You could reproduce it with a $260 Lego mind-storms kit.

Sorry for the "rant".

[RobotLady]

It boils down to patents, volume and middle men.  That's why the price is high.  The patents have to expire and the volumes have to go up before the price will come down.  When the patents expire, there will be less middle men.

If anyone has a great idea that can be proven to work that will make a robot lawn mower go in straight lines, they should patent it, build it, test it and then sell it to the robot lawn mower manufacturers.  We will eagerly sell the mowers once they becomes available!  Note, if you talk about your idea in a public forum, you won't be able to patent it (just keep this in mind...).  But then again, if you aren't going to test it and sell it, why not give it away?  Maybe someone will use it?   

[jzawacki]

Not to mention, you'll need to spend around $5,000 to patent it, more if you go through a patent/market house.

[RobotLady]

A patent pending can be filed for about $100.  One can figure out how to write a patent and claims oneself by reading other patents.  Not as easy, but can be done on the cheap...

[jzawacki]

Are you speaking from experience?  If so, please PM me with details as I am very interested.