DEMS - Solar Powered Remote Controlled Lawn Mower

            Over the period of March 12th to March 26th of 2022 group 19 finished the last minor tweaks needed to complete the prototype of the our lawn mower. We added a second cutting motor and blade since with just one of them our cutting width was only 5.5 inches. The prototype mower is fully complete and is ready for the demo on the 28th. It can travel as far as 245ft at an average speed of 2.92 mph while the blades and all the other components are powered on. The fully assembled mower is shown below in Figure 1, and an overview of the mower with the solar panel removed labels the main components in Figure 2. Figure 1: Fully assembled RC Solar Lawn Mower Figure 2: Mower with panel removed In terms of challenges or obstacles, implementing a second cutting motor and blade was definitely one. Since the first blade/motor was centered and had a hole cut for it already, working around that area and cutting two new holes for each cutting motor and blade ...

          Over the period of Feb 5 to Feb 19 of 2022, group 19 has focused on finalizing our initial prototype of our lawn mower design. We got the last component needed for our charging system (solar panel wiring kit), and have confirmed the compatibility of all of our components. The chassis has been drilled for two drive motors and for the 2 free-spinning caster wheels, which have been mounted using bolts. After running some tests, we have realized the placement of the battery is crucial for our design. The battery is the heaviest component of our design, and is the biggest factor for getting sufficient traction in the drive wheels without lifting the front wheels off the ground under acceleration. The battery is currently temporarily fixed using partially screwed screws in the ABS chassis, to allow for future adjustment as we see fit. The drive system is assembled, with the two ESC’s and remote control receiver wired to control the power from the batter...

  Question 1: Over the time period of January 19 to February 5 2022, Team 19 focused on purchasing and receiving all of the main components for our execution plan. All of the major components have been received, and each part has been verified to be in working order (to ensure we do not need to return anything). We have split up our project into multiple subsystems: remote control, power, drive/steering, and cutting. The wheels and wheel hubs have been test fitted with our drive motors, and the motors have been tested with our battery and RC system. The live feed camera and monitor/receiver connect and display properly. The cutting weed eater has been tested, and cuts grass effectively for our purposes. Question 2: One obstacle our team faced in that same time period has been finding the exact connectors to connect our solar panel to our main battery. We knew this would be an issue, but decided to focus on main components first. The solution is an inexpensive wiring kit (~$20), whi...

Question 1:      Over the work period of November 13-23 our team has worked on finalizing our overall design and component specifications, backing our part selections with relevant calculations and creating a CAD assembly to illustrate our general design plan. After calculating required specifications, we then conducted research to find parts that fit our needs and where we can buy them for the best prices. We then constructed our design review presentation slides to include our problem description, CAD design illustrations, and our parts list/budget. After this, we gave our design review presentation. Since then, we have reviewed our components list and finalized our selections. We have also begun work on our design review report, working on gathering information for the main sections of the report. Question 2: Our final design concept consists of 4 wheels attached to a 18x24 inch ¼ inch thick aluminum plate. Two of these wheels will be 6 inch diameter off road tires, an...

Question 1:       In terms of actual assignment submissions, the period of Sept. 25 to Oct. 15 was used to complete our statement of work document and project blog #2. The statement of work document helped us specify what we want to accomplish with our project, and how we plan on meeting these goals. These goals were quantified by looking at existing solutions and seeing what we can improve upon and by how much, and we also developed a validation plan to prove that our final design has met our specifications. This time was also used to start weighing out different options for our project’s design, and we also have researched different subsystems of our design to find out what is feasible for us. A lot of our focus during this time period was placed on narrowing down the scope of our project overall, as we have come to realize our project has many subsystems. Lastly, we have identified key components necessary for our design and have started looking for pricing and av...

Our problem statement and project goals were updated and are now more detailed, focusing primarily on reducing costs and operating sounds of the mower. Initially, the first problem statement and project goal(s) didn't have many specifications and they were not detailed at all. They just had general information about the type of mower we had envisioned which was not enough.  Robotic lawn mowers are typically expensive, with models ranging from $600 up to $2800 with an average cost of a middle-of-the-pack mower being around $1770! We plan to make a fully automatic solar powered lawn mower that has an approximate cost of $500. This can be achievable by using parts and materials that don't cost nearly as much, but can still allow the mower to get the job done. This budget is also reasonable, since we do not plan on selling our model for a profit. As far as operating sounds go, traditional gas powered lawn mowers output 80-90 dB and push electric lawn mowers output around 60-65 dB o...