MOWSTOCK – 2023, April 21st and 22nd

Chris - I love the paper you wrote on path planning and optimisation. Much to think about.
Re obstacles, im thinking about monitoring vibration levels on theh mower - running over branches should generate a stop rather than push on through…

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(I didn’t write the paper… I just used it as the basis for my path planner)

I think the h_acc approach would be worth pursuing, but I have been very happy with just stopping when I lose RTK Fix, as Yuri says.

@Yuri_Rage’s TerrainDetector script might be a good start on using vibration levels to take some action. It has been a big help when I am mowing in rough terrain. It slows the ground speed when rough terrain is detected.

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Is path planning better compared to the Survey Grid from the MP? Did you build a custom software for it?

Survey Grid in mission planner is quite good (as is the spiral pattern). We used it a lot, including manually editing the generated paths to mow around obstacles.

Ultimately, however, we needed to automatically (i.e. quickly) generate a path for a property, including mowing around obstacles, so we built custom software to do this. (We actually generate several for each property with different strip headings, because we learned that mowing the exact same path week after week creates ruts in the grass). While we were at it we implemented a double-wide strip around the perimeter, a double-wide strip around each obstacle, and automatic repositioning from region to region. We’re satisfied with the results, although the paths it generates aren’t quite as efficient as doing it by hand. Here’s a screenshot of our custom path builder: