Autonomous Mowing - Autonomous 36, 48, or bigger machine - would this have a need / interest for folks, or no?

[kf4uda]

Funny this should come up. I have been looking into these lately. The higher end residential Husqvarna is around $5500. They are gps guided.

I told my Wife we could buy two of them for around the same cost of replacing our aging zero turn then sit on the porch and watch them mow when we get old. She first laughed but has since thought more of the idea.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

From the website: "Designed for large-area mowing, CEORA™ can cover up to 6 acres with a pro sports quality cut or up to 18 acres with a regular quality cut."
I would think "regular quality" is once a week? "Pro sports quality" to me is daily.

 

[LittleBill21]

Funny this should come up. I have been looking into these lately. The higher end residential Husqvarna is around $5500. They are gps guided.

I told my Wife we could buy two of them for around the same cost of replacing our aging zero turn then sit on the porch and watch them mow when we get old. She first laughed but has since thought more of the idea.

if you have any questions let me know, i got one for my 82 year old mother over a month ago, she wanted nothing to do with it initially, and now uses the word love.

 

[LittleBill21]

From the website: "Designed for large-area mowing, CEORA™ can cover up to 6 acres with a pro sports quality cut or up to 18 acres with a regular quality cut."
I would think "regular quality" is once a week? "Pro sports quality" to me is daily.

no, they are designed to generally cut 24/7

 

[quicksandfarmer]

already in use, i talk to a couple who use over 100 husky's

My mental image of a future landscaper is a guy who has a trailer with 100 robots. He pulls up, opens the trailer, 100 robots pile out, cut everything that needs cutting and pile back into the trailer. Then on to the next site.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

no, they are designed to generally cut 24/7

Right, but how often to they cut each blade of grass? Once a day? Once a week?

 

[LittleBill21]

My mental image of a future landscaper is a guy who has a trailer with 100 robots. He pulls up, opens the trailer, 100 robots pile out, cut everything that needs cutting and pile back into the trailer. Then on to the next site.

no, they all need to be mapped. just like the autosteer units on tractors.

 

[LittleBill21]

Right, but how often to they cut each blade of grass? Once a day? Once a week?

depends if it uses systematic cutting or random. prolly close to once a week in systematic.

 

[candersen10]

In this scenario, I'm imaging a robot docking to charge (

) then running a repetitive set of missions cutting in rows and areas. In our case, we can go in areas that include GPS, and areas that exclude it (i.e. in rows with canopies that block GPS). This type of system would likely cover 15-20 acres per system, so on my family farm, 10-15 of them would be enough for 200+ acres.

Have about 25,000 miles of running docking / charging, and running mowing style missions just without a mower. Now working on the mower addition part...

 

[Complete Turf Care]

Is the burro gas powered? It sounds like a small gas engine, but it looks like its battery powered.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

If you look at both the BX and the Husqvarna, the mower deck is offered as an accessory to the vehicle, which is sold separately. Might be something to consider.

 

[candersen10]

Is the burro gas powered? It sounds like a small gas engine, but it looks like its battery powered.

All electric

They run on Lithium Fero Phosphate batteries with a 5 year warranty and rated to 90% capacity at around 4000 cycles.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

All electric

They run on Lithium Fero Phosphate batteries with a 5 year warranty and rated to 90% capacity at around 4000 cycles.

What makes it so loud in the video?

 

[candersen10]

What makes it so loud in the video?

In the video, it is running in a depot yard with a ton of generators running on other machinery.

 

[candersen10]

Rough idea of size / scale

 

[candersen10]

How this thing is evolving:

In this case, looking more and more like:
1. Costs $10-12 an acre to run (Burro Grazer likely to list for around $40K + 3800/year for autonomy/rtk/cell/warranty + whatever electricity costs - at .15/ kwhr would cost about $110 bucks to mow 100 acres 8 passes in a year) - more running lowers that cost
2. Can do extreme slopes, and big areas
3. Autonomous for areas and rows, including ones where canopies cover GPS signal entirely
4. Autonomous Docking to charge
5. other modes possible (like see a person, send you a text - patrol overnight, towing, running a sprayer, etc.)
6. 12 HP on drive wheels, 7.2 HP on mower motors, 48 inches wide, so can fit in pretty tight places


Really designed for production ag (grapes, apples, berries, tree nurseries) where there is access to power for docking, and the hour meters on mowing macheins peopel are running goes up by like 1K / year. I.e. if you love sitting on a mower in the heat, this thing is not for you. If you have a big crew, and want to cut costs, this would be for you...

Is anyone on this site thinking about / excited about autonomy like this? Or more excited about driving tractors?

 

[ning]

Does the mower option have any auditory processing or perhaps other sort of mower RPM detection so it can tell when there's higher load and the travel speed should reduce?
Audio processing could also be helpful to detect the blades hitting something hard before something gets destroyed.

 

[LittleBill21]

Does the mower option have any auditory processing or perhaps other sort of mower RPM detection so it can tell when there's higher load and the travel speed should reduce?
Audio processing could also be helpful to detect the blades hitting something hard before something gets destroyed.

much easier to detect amperage changes in the blade motor's

 

[candersen10]

Here's how it is looking now.

YES Re AMPS!

 

[candersen10]