Howdy all,
I am currently building an RC/Autonomous Mower and have some questions I could use some help with.
Currently I have the mower fabrication complete and as of yesterday I have the mower driving around in RC Mode!
(I have attached a few quick photos and a video of it driving around)
Now I have progressed to this stage I plan to start working on the automation.
My current plan in to use the APM:Rover platform (Pixhawk), RTK GPS and Sonar for obstacle avoidance. After doing a little research it appears the RTK GPS Shouldn't be an issue with the Pixhawk (I have access to RTK GPS and Base Station due to my occupation) so hope to start doing some testing on this in the coming weeks. Currently there appears to be a slight limitation in the accuracy of the waypoints that Mission Planner can send to the Pixhawk but I believe a fix is in the works for this (would love to know a rough ETA for this if anyone knew?)
My next hurdle I want to start thinking about is a method of varying the speed throughout the mission dependent on engine rpm of the mower. We all know when we mow the grass if its a little long the mower 'bogs down' and subsequently we need to push a little slower. I see this as a requirement for my project and wanted to know if anyone has considered anything similar to this in the past?
My train of thought is it could be more generalized as a kind of 'Rover_Load' input into the Pixhawk that would have an effect on the current mission speed. Input from my projects perspective could be as simple as engine RPM etc through a simple circuit.
I would appreciate any thoughts...
Replies
How has your project worked out since this post? I'm just getting started with a similar project and wanted to know how much progress you have made in a year?
Thanks,
Robert