Robot mowers

[durbster]

Frimley111R said:

durbster said:

I can't help but think GPS is something they've only added because it feels like a good solution and people kept asking for it. In reality, it's nowhere near accurate enough for this kind of thing.

Maybe something like LIDAR and ultra-sonic sensors would work but I would guess that'd burn through a huge amount of energy.

The Mammotion ones do this, one even has front facing cameras to avoid things

Yeah that makes sense. Sounds like a more practical solution.

[mikef]

Thanks, I’ll look that up. I also noticed Worx Vision posted above

Would love to hear from anyone actually using either of these

[Frimley111R]

mikef said:

Thanks, I’ll look that up. I also noticed Worx Vision posted above

Would love to hear from anyone actually using either of these

The Mammotion Yuka is the new lower cost one so no-one has that yet but their pricier model is used by someone on here. Not sure about the Vision though

[mikef]

Thanks - the Yuka 1500 looks interesting

[Mr Pointy]

durbster said:

I can't help but think GPS is something they've only added because it feels like a good solution and people kept asking for it. In reality, it's nowhere near accurate enough for this kind of thing.

Maybe something like LIDAR and ultra-sonic sensors would work but I would guess that'd burn through a huge amount of energy.

Expensive GPS is good enough, cheap GPS isn't. Not all GPS chips are equal.

[durbster]

Mr Pointy said:

durbster said:

I can't help but think GPS is something they've only added because it feels like a good solution and people kept asking for it. In reality, it's nowhere near accurate enough for this kind of thing.

Maybe something like LIDAR and ultra-sonic sensors would work but I would guess that'd burn through a huge amount of energy.

Expensive GPS is good enough, cheap GPS isn't. Not all GPS chips are equal.

From a quick search earlier it said GPS is around 5 metres and then only if it has a clear and unobstructed line of sight. That's not enough to stop your mower driving into a pond, surely, so does it get better than that?

[spikeyhead]

durbster said:

From a quick search earlier it said GPS is around 5 metres and then only if it has a clear and unobstructed line of sight. That's not enough to stop your mower driving into a pond, surely, so does it get better than that?

It does if you add a local transmitter. Modern tractors sow seeds in land unploughed since the previous years harvest, and plant the seeds in between last years rows of stubble. good to within an inch, but you still need clear sky.

[Frimley111R]

spikeyhead said:

durbster said:

From a quick search earlier it said GPS is around 5 metres and then only if it has a clear and unobstructed line of sight. That's not enough to stop your mower driving into a pond, surely, so does it get better than that?

It does if you add a local transmitter. Modern tractors sow seeds in land unploughed since the previous years harvest, and plant the seeds in between last years rows of stubble. good to within an inch, but you still need clear sky.

The Mammotion one seems to use RTK. It has its own antenna but I am not really sure how it works.

[Frimley111R]

mikef said:

Thanks - the Yuka 1500 looks interesting

Yep, I ordered the 1000 model on their kickstarter campaign. it was much cheaper that way but not available until June at the earliest. There a FB page you can join and you might find someone who is willing to give up their mower reservation (I have already seen someone asking this)

[mikef]

Frimley111R said:

I ordered the 1000 model on their kickstarter campaign.

Ha. I backed Reekon’s T1 digital/laser tape measure in spring ‘22 to use on a job I was doing that summer. It turned up a couple of weeks ago (so I sold it on the Bay for a 33% profit)

[gregch]

h0b0 said:

The Husqvarna base stations are linked to the mower. In theory it’s to stop people lifting the mower and stealing it.

In practice, it didn’t work for mine as I have swapped parts and the base station without issue. But, it sounds like it may be “working” for you. There’s a procedure to pair base and mower.

Turns out, I think that was the issue; the mower needed to effectively 'pair' with the loop signal from the replacement charging station. Tried creating a new loop signal from the menu on the mower itself, no joy. But doing the same on the phone app worked fine and he's now back in action.

[Mr Pointy]

durbster said:

Mr Pointy said:

durbster said:

I can't help but think GPS is something they've only added because it feels like a good solution and people kept asking for it. In reality, it's nowhere near accurate enough for this kind of thing.

Maybe something like LIDAR and ultra-sonic sensors would work but I would guess that'd burn through a huge amount of energy.

Expensive GPS is good enough, cheap GPS isn't. Not all GPS chips are equal.

From a quick search earlier it said GPS is around 5 metres and then only if it has a clear and unobstructed line of sight. That's not enough to stop your mower driving into a pond, surely, so does it get better than that?

As referred to above there's a version called RTK which uses a base station as well as the receiver on the mower & using clever maths the accuracy can be to a few centimeters.

[robbob1980]

Hi. I’ve got a Flymo easilife 350 and I’m wondering if there’s a software update for it. Has anyone updated their easilife software and knows what version it is at now. Mine says version 20.25.

Thanks

[Zoon]

robbob1980 said:

Hi. I’ve got a Flymo easilife 350 and I’m wondering if there’s a software update for it. Has anyone updated their easilife software and knows what version it is at now. Mine says version 20.25.

Thanks

Is it not working properly?

[robbob1980]

Zoon said:

Is it not working properly?

As far as I know yeah it’s fine but I’ve only had it running for an hour or so. I’ve had to lay fresh turf around the garage I built for it as it was just mud so I’m letting that establish a bit. Also, from laying the boundary wire when the lawn was very wet it’s ended up muddy so I’m waiting for it to recover a bit before setting “Larry the lawnmower” to work properly.
It seemed to work fine but I just like to have stuff on the latest versions anyway. I don’t really want to walk on the new turf to get him out so was hoping someone might know the latest version.

Thanks

[Jermy Claxon]

mikef said:

Thanks, I’ll look that up. I also noticed Worx Vision posted above

Would love to hear from anyone actually using either of these

I had a Worx Vision last year, used it for about 3 months then sent it back. Absolutely useless. Before that I had a normal wired Worx (M800 I think) and it was ok, but the Vision was far too dumb, and just had no way to teach it anything. It refused to go places, there was no way to guide it with edge wire, and there was no override or "no, it's ok, you can go there" facility. Even on a plain, rectangular area of lawn, it would go round anything that wasn't grass. Clover, daisies, dandelions, leaves...

It was nowhere near a production-ready product last summer. I think even assuming the "intelligence" improves, I wouldn't be trying it this summer, or next. Long way to go.

For that reason I wouldn't entertain the Mammotion vision ones either. At least they have a fallback of GPS and aren't pure vision, but I'm still not interested in cameras on mowers, I'll let others work out the bugs for a few more years. It adds nothing, IMO.

[dhutch]

Jermy Claxon said:

I had a Worx Vision last year, used it for about 3 months then sent it back. Absolutely useless. Before that I had a normal wired Worx (M800 I think) and it was ok, but the Vision was far too dumb, and just had no way to teach it anything. It refused to go places, there was no way to guide it with edge wire, and there was no override or "no, it's ok, you can go there" facility. Even on a plain, rectangular area of lawn, it would go round anything that wasn't grass. Clover, daisies, dandelions, leaves...

It was nowhere near a production-ready product last summer. I think even assuming the "intelligence" improves, I wouldn't be trying it this summer, or next. Long way to go.

What a shame, but fair enough. What did Worx say about that?

[Jermy Claxon]

Frimley111R said:

The Mammotion one seems to use RTK. It has its own antenna but I am not really sure how it works.

An RTK base station creates a local triangulation allowing the mower to place itself much more accurately. The RTK base station has a GPS receiver, and so does the mower, but the mower and base can then cross reference with each other to cancel out error, and get accuracy down to a few cm, making GPS+RTK suitable for following edges without a border wire. A great solution... for some.

Installing the RTK station is a little tricky, as it needs a VERY good, wide clear view of the sky to function properly. This problem is compounded in higher latitudes where satellites are fewer (then over the equator). Being in the UK, we're not ideally placed, but it should still work if you have the right spot. If you can find a clear bit of sky away from the house, you've probably moved the station inconveniently far from a power source, which it needs. Mammotion are bringing out a solar panel for the RTK station later in the year for this reason, and I'm sort of holding out for that before installing my Luba v1, as the alternative is running power to the rooftop to get a good sky. As the RTK station needs to be stored indoors for the winter, I don't really want to install it on the roof anyway.

If you have power somewhere accessible, with a clear view of the sky, then I think RTK is a good solution, otherwise stick with boundary wires (not that wires are perfect, as we all know, but I actually miss the simplicity of it.)

[Jermy Claxon]

dhutch said:

Jermy Claxon said:

I had a Worx Vision last year, used it for about 3 months then sent it back. Absolutely useless. Before that I had a normal wired Worx (M800 I think) and it was ok, but the Vision was far too dumb, and just had no way to teach it anything. It refused to go places, there was no way to guide it with edge wire, and there was no override or "no, it's ok, you can go there" facility. Even on a plain, rectangular area of lawn, it would go round anything that wasn't grass. Clover, daisies, dandelions, leaves...

It was nowhere near a production-ready product last summer. I think even assuming the "intelligence" improves, I wouldn't be trying it this summer, or next. Long way to go.

What a shame, but fair enough. What did Worx say about that?

To be very fair to Worx, they have excellent customer support, and they fully refunded me with very little hassle. I was well outside any reasonable return period, but I sent them my concerns in writing and asked for a refund and they didn't object. By the time I returned it, it was was in used condition, I hadn't kept the original box, and some accessories were missing. I warned them of this, but they didn't object to a refund anyway.

The cynical amongst us might say they know the product is a load of crap, or if we're being generous we might say they care about their customers and deserve praise for good support. I think it's probably a bit of both; I had a fair complaint and I voiced it politely and made a fair case for it being unfit for purpose. I also think I needed to give it a fair trial for a few months and not just give up as I ordered it very early in the product's life, so I accepted it was a bit "beta". But after a few months and a few software updates etc I had to give up.

I'm happy to endorse Worx customer support, it's really excellent. I'd happily go back to the M800 too, that was good. Just not the Vision.

[dhutch]

Jermy Claxon said:

An RTK base station creates a local triangulation allowing the mower to place itself much more accurately. The RTK base station has a GPS receiver, and so does the mower, but the mower and base can then cross reference with each other to cancel out error, and get accuracy down to a few cm, making GPS+RTK suitable for following edges without a border wire. A great solution... for some.

Installing the RTK station is a little tricky, as it needs a VERY good, wide clear view of the sky to function properly. This problem is compounded in higher latitudes where satellites are fewer (then over the equator). Being in the UK, we're not ideally placed, but it should still work if you have the right spot. If you can find a clear bit of sky away from the house, you've probably moved the station inconveniently far from a power source, which it needs. Mammotion are bringing out a solar panel for the RTK station later in the year for this reason, and I'm sort of holding out for that before installing my Luba v1, as the alternative is running power to the rooftop to get a good sky. As the RTK station needs to be stored indoors for the winter, I don't really want to install it on the roof anyway.

If you have power somewhere accessible, with a clear view of the sky, then I think RTK is a good solution, otherwise stick with boundary wires (not that wires are perfect, as we all know, but I actually miss the simplicity of it.)

Fair enough. All very interesting, my base station is hidden deep under the magnolia tree behind a small bush, which is nice because it is out of the way and not to invasive, if also still visible enough to be a talking point.