Robotic Mower Boundary-Guided Traversal Across Separate Lawn Areas
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous lawn mowers face challenges in efficiently mowing multiple discontiguous lawn areas separated by non-mowable spaces, such as paths or driveways, as they struggle to navigate and avoid obstacles while maintaining effective mowing operations across irregularly shaped lawns.
Innovation Solution
The robotic mower is trained to move across spaces separating lawn areas by storing data on boundary locations, traversal paths, and mowing patterns, using wideband transceivers and sensors for navigation, and decoupling the cutting system during traversal to enable efficient movement between mowable areas without cutting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the robotic mower is programmed to avoid obstacles and stay within boundaries using traditional navigation methods, then it can safely mow single contiguous areas, but it cannot efficiently navigate and mow multiple discontiguous areas separated by non-mowable spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the mowing operation into distinct phases: mowing mode within lawn areas and traversal mode across non-mowable spaces. The controller identifies specific traversal launch points and landing points, allowing the robot to transition between disconnected lawn areas by temporarily disabling the cutting system during traversal and reactivating it upon reaching the target area
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the cutting system state based on the robot's location and operational mode. The cutting system is enabled when the robot is within a lawn area and disabled when traversing non-mowable spaces. This dynamic control allows the same hardware to perform both mowing and navigation functions without requiring separate specialized systems
2Productivity
If the robotic mower continuously operates the cutting system while moving, then it maintains constant mowing capability, but it cannot efficiently traverse non-mowable spaces without cutting
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary identification of traversal launch points and landing points before actual traversal begins. The controller stores location data for these points and uses them to plan traversal routes, ensuring the cutting system is disabled before entering non-mowable spaces and reenabled upon reaching the target area, thus maintaining both efficiency and boundary accuracy
3Adaptability or versatility
If the robotic mower uses traditional boundary avoidance methods, then it stays within single lawn areas, but it cannot transition between separated lawn areas
Solution Approach 1:
The controller acts as an intermediary that manages the transition between mowing and traversal modes. It identifies traversal launch points at the boundaries of current lawn areas and matching landing points at the boundaries of target areas, then coordinates the cutting system shutdown and navigation to the landing point, enabling efficient transitions between separated areas
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution allows a single robotic mower to autonomously mow multiple physically separate lawn areas by navigating traversal regions, optimizing mowing efficiency and ensuring accurate boundary recognition and obstacle avoidance, thus addressing the challenge of irregularly shaped lawns with multiple discontiguous sections.
Implementation Method 1
The robotic mower and each of the boundary markers may include a respective wideband transceiver that operates from a frequency of 5925 MHz to 7250 MHz
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 1C
AI summary
A method of mowing multiple areas, the method comprising: obtaining a schedule for the robotic mower to mow at least two areas; initiating a mowing operation causing the robotic mower (10) to autonomously mow a first one of at least two areas (102a, 102b, 102c) in accordance with the schedule; and then initiating a mowing operation causing the robotic mower (10) to autonomously mow a second one of the at least two areas (102a, 102b, 102c) in accordance with the schedule.