Robot Mower Lets Inventor Stay Inside On Hot Days

Robot Mower Lets Inventor Stay Inside On Hot Days FARM HOME Lawn Mowers (31h,38) 31-4-17 Glen Jones' home-built remote control lawn mower lets him sit inside in air conditioned comfort while cutting the grass on hot steamy days. "It doesn't take a genius to make one, but I couldn't tell anyone how to do it," Jones says. "This thing started out as just a toy to play around with but it's become very useful to me." He explains that his first attempt at an automated lawn mower "was more of a robot." It used a computer chip that he could program so it would follow alongside where he had previously cut a square. But after about two rounds, it "would take off into the bush." A friend calls his latest mower "Robogoat". He started with a cheap Murray lawn mower with a 42-in. cut and 14 hp engine that cost about $1,100. Jones installed a reversible 12-volt motor to run the steering wheel through a pulley and belt system. He used another 12-volt motor to control forward and reverse on the hydrostat transmission. He uses a remote control transmitter and receiver from a toy car, in combination with two relays and a servo for each of the two channels (steering and forward/reverse). Jones says these parts cost about $150. "I already had an old broken video camera that the recording feature didn't work on, so I mounted it on the lawn mower. This video is transmitted back to my television in the house with an off-the-shelf router device that's normally used for networking one computer with another. It cost about $150," Jones explains. "This is what allows me to watch the lawn mower on the television as it cuts grass." The router can send video about 500 feet, so when the picture starts to get snowy, Jones knows it's time to turn the mower back toward the house. His control box is good for 1,000 feet. "I mow about three acres using this remote control system. It's become so useful that I also mow out in my pasture because I land my airplane there," he says. "I have æpicture in picture' television so I can actually watch TV while remotely mowing the lawn - I can be mowing on the little picture and watching the ball game on the big one." Sometimes Jones admits that he has to go out and rescue the lawn mower, "but not too often." "I live along a busy highway and I've stopped using it in the ditch along there because it causes trouble. People are worried when they see a driver-less lawn mower, and they stop," he explains. "Actually, the ditch is the area where I would most like to use this lawn mower, so I'm making a mannequin to put on the tractor so it looks like someone's driving it." Jones says he particularly enjoys the mower when it's 100 degrees or hotter outside. Total cost for this robot mower was about $1,400. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Glen Jones, 5595 Magnolia Hwy., El Dorado, Ark. 71730 (flyboyjones@suddenlink.net).

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