I am absolutely blown away by the sophistication of ardurover and mission planner and the support given by so many here. With just a few setup details I was able to get a functioning mower working in a few days. I have done NO tuning which is rather obvious. Now the real fun begins.
I am using cheap ASME-05B servos, Kakute H743-Wing, Siyi HM30 radio with 4k video, holybro UM982 rtk gps, Flysky FS-i6X RC controller and a 4 channel arduino relay board all stuffed in a plastic box.
All in about $750.
Looks like a well done, down and dirty conversion on an impressive budget to me!
What you’re missing: tune it!
Also, you’re missing what most of us are: obstacle detection and safeties for such. If I had a good option for you on that front, I’d offer it. But I’m still working through how to accomplish that on my own stuff here. I have a bunch of ideas on the topic and have tried a few things, but nothing has really satisfied my intent. There are a few builds out there with some creative solutions like bumpers on switches. Depending on where you’re operating, it may be worth exploring those.
One of these days I’m going to deep dive on all kinds of obstacle detection stuff and try and nail down a good solution. The firmware supports a good number of hardware variants and protocols, I just haven’t been able to find a sensor that I want to use in the long run. I’m sure there’s plenty of options, but it’s a topic to which I haven’t devoted enough time.
Wow John, thats excellent !!
Lots of really good thinking. Your bed frame has been doing sterling service.
Excellent packaging in the computer room.
Yep - on the starter. I could put a relay on ours, but chose not to, too scary if does goes wrong, more so when the motor is running.
suggestions and observations (nothing to roast) and at the risk of repeating what Yuri said
bumper kill switch?. makes a surprising difference to relaxation levels when keeping an ear on the mowing.
tuning…
im guessing your GPS is working well enough? - is there enough separation between the two receivers ?? more is better but i dont know how much is enough.
failsafes - RC controller going flat/out of range = stop etc same with telemetry (RTCM) drops
automation ideas (lua scripts)
height/stall protection slow the mwer in super long grass or raise the deck
excessive vibration = shut it all down, as you’ve run over something ugly
minfix - HOLD if the GPS loses RTK_FIX and resume once its back (scary)
Congrats on getting past all the hurdles - Ardustuff is excellent.
Thanks so much for reviewing my setup. I have definitely thought about obstacle detection and safety concerns. In my specific case I have a bit of brute force failsafe as my property is completely fenced . The main reason I added the video feed is to keep an eye on it as it runs and shut it down if needed but I don’t want to have to watch it run for several hours.
However I agree the simplest and most robust setup might be a bumper style mechanism which I plan on installing.
. The main reason I added the video feed is to keep an eye on it as it runs and shut it down if needed but I don’t want to have to watch it run for several hours.