Yesterday the time had come: Our ArduMower was allowed onto the lawn for the first time. The GPS/RTK base is currently located on the (sheet metal) roof of our Biohort equipment shed. Although this is surrounded by a few trees, the base still delivers stable data. Whether this remains the case remains to be seen. For the first tests, however, it was the simplest solution.
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I’ve temporarily attached the GPS module and the antennas of the mower to the lid of the ArduMower with adhesive tape. Since my housing is made of aluminum Dibond, the antennas would of course be shielded if they were inside the robot. I’ve ordered SMA pigtails here, with which I can extend the XBee antenna to the outside.
I’ve also relocated the Bluetooth module to the outside. Normally there is a slot for it on the mainboard of the ArduMower, but here too the housing shields too much, so the range drops extremely. With the Bluetooth module on the outside, I have a constant connection to the mower from our balcony. I will still switch to a WiFi module, as I already have perfect coverage of the property with the TP-Link EAP110 Outdoor N300 WiFi Access Point .
The mower currently still mows according to the chaos principle, as the GPS/RTK module is not yet fully configured. However, the first mowing results are already quite respectable. The ArduMower copes well with our uneven lawn and also manages slopes without any problems.
The next steps are now the final installation of the GPS/RTK module, the configuration of the Sunray firmware and the construction of a charging station. I will report on this in further posts.
Hi! I'm Markus – the Fricklr. ⚡ Electrical engineer, 🎵 musician (bass, guitar, keys) and professionally 'something with the internet' 🌐 for over 30 years – nowadays with AI too 🤖 – a 55-year-old generalist from Bavaria, Germany.
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