Robotic Lawn Mower Edge Cutting With Arcuate Boundary Turns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Robotic lawn mowers struggle to efficiently cut grass close to objects and borders due to their design, which often results in uncut grass near obstacles, requiring manual intervention with tools like grass trimmers.
Innovation Solution
A robotic lawn mower equipped with a control unit and a rotatable grass cutting disc that performs arcuate movements to navigate boundaries, allowing efficient edge cutting by positioning the cutting disc parallel to the boundary for systematic mowing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the cutting unit is arranged at the underside of the lawn mower body, then the mower can cut grass systematically in straight lines, but the mower body and wheels hinder the cutting unit from reaching grass close to objects and borders
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting unit is made rotatable about a vertical axis, allowing it to dynamically change its orientation and position relative to the mower body. This enables the cutting unit to adapt its configuration to reach grass close to objects and borders while maintaining systematic mowing capability in open areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The cutting unit is separated from the main mower body through a rotatable connection, allowing independent movement and positioning. This segmentation enables the cutting unit to be positioned optimally for different cutting scenarios - either integrated with the body for systematic mowing or separated for edge cutting near obstacles.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the cutting unit is positioned to reach close to borders, then edge cutting capability is improved, but the mower can no longer maintain systematic straight-line mowing patterns
Solution Approach 1:
The rotatable connection allows the cutting unit to dynamically adjust its position - rotating to an extended position for edge cutting near borders, and rotating to an integrated position for systematic straight-line mowing. This dynamic adaptability resolves the contradiction by allowing the system to optimize for different operational modes as needed.
3Reliability
If a separate manual grass trimmer is used to cut grass near obstacles, then cutting completeness is improved, but the overall operation time and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The edge cutting function is merged with the main mower body through the rotatable cutting unit. The same mower that performs systematic cutting now also performs edge cutting by rotating its cutting unit, eliminating the need for a separate manual grass trimmer and reducing total operation time.
Solution Approach 2:
The robotic mower performs edge cutting autonomously using its own rotatable cutting unit, without requiring manual intervention with separate tools. The system serves itself by integrating multiple functions into a single automated device, reducing both time and operational complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A robotic lawn mower includes a control unit and a first end portion is facing a forward travelling direction and having a longitudinal mower extension extending between the end portions. When the robotic lawn mower, during grass cutting in a cutting lane having a main lane extension, is approaching a boundary with a main boundary extension, the control unit controls the robotic lawn mower such that the second end portion performs a first arcuate movement in a first arcuate direction along a first cutting arc having a first angular span such that the mower extension is positioned mainly parallel to the boundary extension. The control unit controls the robotic lawn mower to move a cutting lane change distance mainly parallel to the boundary extension in the forward travelling direction to an adjacent further cutting lane having a further main lane extension, and controls the robotic lawn mower such that the second end portion performs a second arcuate movement in a second arcuate direction, opposite the first arcuate direction, along a second cutting arc having a second angular span such that the longitudinal extension is positioned mainly parallel to the further main lane extension.