1530results about "Lawn-mowers" patented technology

A method for automatically operating a robot, attached to a lawnmower or other unmanned machine, within an enclosed area is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: 1) providing the following elements: a proximity sensor positioned on the robot, a boundary along the perimeter of the working area and along the perimeter of each area enclosed in the working area in which the robot should not operate, the boundaries being detectable by the proximity sensor, a processing unit connected to the proximity sensor and receiving an input therefrom, a navigation unit on the robot to determine the coordinates of the robot relative to an arbitrary origin, a direction finder, and a memory to store values generated by the processing unit; and 2) causing the robot to move along each of the boundaries provided around or within the working area, to detect the boundaries and to memorize their shape, and to store in the memory values representative of the coordinates of the boundaries, thereby to generate a basic map of the working area. When the robot is to operate within the area, the method includes the steps of: (a) causing the robot to start from a starting point having known coordinates within the basic map of the working area; (b) continuously determining the coordinates of the robot by analyzing data obtained from the navigation unit and by detecting the vicinity of a boundary; and (c) correcting the actual position of the robot on the basic map by comparing the calculated and the actual coordinates of each detected boundary.

A method of establishing an area of confinement and an autonomous robot for performing a task within the area of confinement. In one aspect, the invention can be a method of defining an area of confinement for an autonomous robot comprising: a) positioning the autonomous robot at a first location point P1, the autonomous robot comprising a location tracking unit, and recording the first location point P1 within a memory device; b) moving the autonomous robot from the first location point P1 to a plurality of location points P2-N and recording each of the plurality of location points P2-N within the memory device; and c) defining, with a central processing unit, a first closed-geometry comprising the first location point P1 and the plurality of location points P2-N as a perimeter of the area of confinement within the memory device.

An operator control system for a self-propelled vehicle such as a lawn mower, wherein the control system includes two opposing and preferably upwardly extending and converging hand grips each having a corresponding drive control lever associated therewith. Each drive control lever may have at least a portion that is parallel to a grip axis of its respective hand grip. Further, each drive control lever may have a pivot axis that is substantially parallel to the corresponding grip axis such that the drive control lever remains substantially parallel to its respective hand grip throughout its travel. A neutral lock is provided to permit locking of each drive control lever in at least one position, e.g., a neutral position. Secondary levers such as operator presence control (OPC) levers may also be included. An OPC lever is associated with each hand grip.

A dual lever steering control mechanism for a mounting a control lever or stick to a mower is disclosed. The mechanism includes a housing with an opening, a forward / reverse lever insertable through the opening and pivoting on a first axis, and a neutral position lever pivotably attached to the forward / reverse lever to pivot on a second axis transverse to the first axis. The control lever may be attached to the neutral position lever at a plurality of different height and fore / aft settings.