Robotic Lawnmower

Overview

Our team was tasked with designing and prototyping a robotic lawn mower.The mower was required to be cheaper than competitors currently on the market. We were to modify an electric lawn mower to be self propelled and interact autonomously with its environment.

Objectives

Our sponsor requested us to first develop a remote controlled version of the lawn mower and then upgrade our system to be fully autonomous. The team was instructed to start by choosing an existing electric lawn mower and upgrade it to be controlled remotely.

Approach

• The team began by designing prototypes that would fulfill our RC mower design requirements.
• Our sponsor, Dr. Abdallah provided feedback on each concept.
• The team then refined our concept and received approval from the concept.
• Next the team researched multiple different parts that would fulfill our design requirements.
• Each part was chosen based on how well it would perform for our project.
• A list of every chosen part was presented to our sponsor and was approved and an order form was then filled out.
• Before assembly each part was tested for functionality. 
• The team started assembly of the RC mower by replacing two of the wheels with electric motors.
• The microcontroller alongside multiple sensors were then wired into the mower and connected to the drive and blade motors. 
• The mower was then tested as a whole unit with a video being recorded and sent to the sponsor.
• Our sponsor then asked the team to upgrade the H-Bridge of our mower, so the team began designing a new H-Bridge.

Outcomes

• The sponsor was provided with a working prototype of a RC lawnmower.
• The lawnmower is equipped with some sensors and code that would allow automatization to be implemented at a later time.
• Our mower is approximately $250 cheaper than competitors on the market.