A new method of mowing

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During the summer of 2019, I began mowing yards to help my brothers fund a summer leadership conference. The work was nostalgic, it reminded me of when my dad did landscaping and lawn care a couple years ago. The work inspired me to try starting a company of my own which is the reason for this project.

I can't help but pursue ideas that might lead to a more efficient system. I guess that could also be called laziness (I consider this my greatest strength and a pain in the butt). In this case, this system may not be the most efficient, but I believe its progress in that direction. I want to build a "drone" mower with a range of 10 miles. I believe the only way to achieve the required range with visual feedback is with a web server (and hopefully a 5g connection eventually), latency is going to be the biggest problem; however, Starship technologies seems to have found a solution with their food delivery robots.

I worked out a couple of designs in fusion 360 around a cheap 20 in yard machine. I drew the gearboxes and motors to spec, then worked out an initial concept. I then decided that the project required an adjustable deck. One of the constraints is cash - I'm limited to the metal and parts I have, and I may attempt another adjustable deck design that requires less metal.


The importance of thorough planning in engineering has been very evident to me with this project. Due to the lack of cash and material, excessive prototyping is not an option. Additionally, project calendars seem to be the key to prevent the death of my personal projects. This project is set up in stages, the first stage is the base, the second is the motor driver, the third is a radio-controlled base, the fourth includes the camera and the final is the webserver integration to achieve the 10-mile control radius.

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