direction of travel

[Radjack]

Robot lady, or anyone i guess, is there anyway to get the lawnbott to travel counterclockwise back to his charger?
He is wearing out the grass on one side of the yard from travelling home everyday, and i thought it would be nice if i could simply swap his travel direction.
I assume it would have to be a programming issue....i am pretty sure he is programmed to turn right once he hits the perimeter wire...but anyone have knowledge on modifying that?
Thanks

[RobotLady]

Hi,

The robot is designed to always drive clockwise on the wire.  There is no way to change it.

However, the LB3510 model has a feature to program the robot to drive counter-clockwise to the next zone.  It still won't help for returning to the base, though.  That is only done by the robot driving clockwise.

The new LB75 model has the V-meter base return method that has the robot vary its return path back to the base.  Then it does not create the ruts.

I'm sorry the news is not better, however, you might consider a landscaping option in the trouble-spot.  For example, there are pavers that let the grass grow through them.  This would give the robot a hard surface to drive on but you would still have the look of some grass.  I'm sure you can think of other landscaping ideas, too, but the aesthetics are your preference.  Here are links to permeable pavers:

http://www.soilretention.com/drivable-grass/do-it-yourself/gallery/

http://www.ndspro.com/permeable-pavers/grass-pavers/tufftrack-grass-pavers

http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Grass-Between-Pavers

Robotlady

[prb238]

My robot (3210) actually goes the opposite way around the wire than it is supposed to but I also have modified my robot quite a bit. I do have the height modification on my bot which uses 2 gears on each side.  Because there are 2 gears, this makes the robot go backwards - in order to fix this I switched the motor connections going to the motherboard - took the left motor and plugged it into the right motor connection and right to left.

Now - I can't really say that this caused the robot to reverse direction on the wire because I haven't tested taking the height mod off and putting the motor connections back where they were originally but I did nothing else to the robot to cause this.

[toolbelt]

Sure that should work!  When following the wire to or from an area all it does is bob back and forth over the wire.  The signal receiver is telling it to turn left but your changes are telling it to turn right so instead of zig zaging it is zag zigging.  No big deal.  When it is mowing and it comes to the wire the signal say goes left but it goes right to do it's turn around thing. Nothing wrong with that as the wire still is in control.  The only problem I can see with all of that is when it hits the wire at an angle that takes the receiver out across the wire too far.  Try pointing it so it comes at the wire at a 5 degree angle to see what happens.

[RobotLady]

By the way, if you have the LB3510 model, we have discovered that the new Brushless version has a feature called "Bounce on Wire".  I don't know if it is also in the LB3510 non-Brushless latest software, but it probably is.

Bounce on Wire causes the robot to perform arcs on its way back to the charger rather than follow the wire.  The down side is if you have the robot doing your edge trimming, now it won't get done.  However, periodically, you can select "Follow Wire" in the menu and have the robot drive on the wire to trim the edges.

Another down side of the "Bounce on Wire" feature is you have to install wire antennas in the yard.  Otherwise the robot will not detect the base.  We will be updating our installation guide soon to show how to do it.

The Brushless Upgrade is available for all LB3510 owners ($940).  If you still have the LB3500, you can get a combo upgrade at a special price.  Contact us!

Robotlady

[Radjack]

Since this is not possible, maybe a rapid return could get him to avoid the area... I have opened another thread to talk about that option.
Thanks

[roninwar]

Actually, I've been using this grid-like screen to help prevent smaller koi fish from getting sucked into the weir. I was just reading this topic and saw that what I use for the pond could also be converted for this use - I think it is good to use since it is not very thick - thus if you placed it on the path this fall/winter and overseeded this path, it should look pretty good next spring - unfortunately the path will still be there - but the robot will not get stuck on this path.

[RobotLady]

Hi,

Thanks for the info, Roninwar.  Here is a link to the plastic material:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_18429-1638-1199233A_0__?Ntt=18429&UserSearch=18429&productId=3280904&rpp=32

It's easily cut with scissors.  It's plastic, so no interference with the signal.  It's a bit flimsy, but if you cut a small piece where the robot gets stuck and then have 1/4" or so sticking out at the trouble spot, it will give the robot some traction so it does not dig a hole in the same place.

Hope this helps!

RobotLady

[toolbelt]

Here is my idea that may work..... would cost a complete new wire and pins job so it's not going to be cheap.

Install the new wire in the 'inside' tire path leaving the old wire in place.  If you kept to the edge of the inside track the old pins/wire would not be under the wheels.  Then fill in the old paths and re-seed.  Once a new path starts to form switch back to the old wire and repair/reseed the latest.  All it would take is to disconnect the wires at the charger.  Maybe install a switch to make it even easier.  If you witched every season I doubt if you would ever see a path form.  Of course you could just install new wire to go around the bad spots, again installing a water proof switch to switch between the new and old wire.

[roninwar]

toolbelt, that's a cool idea also.

[Radjack]

That is a good idea, but would leave a lot of grass on the outside of the new border wire...You would be trimming alot of grass that the bot now misses...
I guess there are pros and cons to everything.