Slashdot Mirror
Building A Homebrew Robotic Lawnmower?
mmonkey writes "With the seemingly small amount of summer we get here in the UK, the last thing I want to be doing on a sunny day is mow the lawn. So I started thinking "surely a light-ish lawnmower could 'gain' a couple of motors, and suddenly be computer-controlled?". Then I started thinking about stuff like obstacle avoidance, optimum path planning, guidance system, how to get pretty-looking stripes, and I realised that it's actually a potentially complex (read: fun) thing to do. So, have any Slashdotters done this before? Did you modify an existing lawnmower or build a whole new one from scratch? What motors work best? For that matter, what type of mower works best? I know you can already get these, but that detracts from both my geek-drive and my wallet, both of which I'd prefer to keep as full as possible."
Use an ultraviolet laser to vaporize the grass. That was my thoughts when I thought about building a robomower... that and radio triangulation. Burns sure suck, but at least they don't break bones. I was all set to do this until I stared thinking about patents, lawsuits, and the rest of the red tape. Thats about the time i decided that america can suck my cock and forego all the fancy ideas I come up with. Ninety-seven percent efficient cooling/heating? fuck your patnent system. Electrostatic propulsion? Yeah, just as soon as lawyers are outlawed. I have no reason to innovate because in the state of america innovation leads to higher taxation. and legal fees. and paperwork that i don't give a flying fuck about. But other than that, I'd say use lasers to vaporize the grass. Not "safe" but safe enough.
Are you Welsh?
Why can't women be like Hedy Lamarr - beautiful, talented and inventors of frequency-hopping spread-spectrum techn
no but my brother-in-law's ex-roommate's cousin visited there on a school outing.
Suchetha
learn from yesterday, plan for tomorrow, party tonight
or one out of three ain't bad