I am currently testing my first robotic lawn mower, and I am a shell of home technology criticism that I was. It was, to say politely, a humiliating journey, and I am not even at the end.
When I was offered my first lawn, I assumed that it would be roughly an experience similar to the tests of the best robot vacuums today. I have been examining them for about a year now, and for the most part, installing them has been a breeze: connect your platform, spend five minutes on a “fast mapping” race and you are finished. There are things you can do to customize the configuration and improve performance, but they are not essential. You don’t need to be a technological engineering to manage it.
The requirements of robot mowers and robot vacuum cleaners are similar: the two must logically navigate an area, covering the whole ground and avoiding obstacles, then finding their path to their load. However, it turns out that a lawn is not only an outdoor Robovac with additional razor blades; The big crucial difference lies in the navigation process. In general, the majority of robot vacuum cleaners sail using the Lidar, while the robot lawn mowers are based on satellites.
The model that I review is a Yuka Mini mamotion, and it mainly uses GPS and an RTK receiver for navigation. Although this is not exactly the same for all models – the older robots could always use a limit wire, and some of the most recent models, such as the Robot Eufy E15 lawn mower, count on cameras and do not need a RTK receiver – it is a very common category of lawn, so my experience will be applicable to a range of models of different brands.
I have not fully worked as I still want, but I have learned important lessons so far. Here are some key elements to know before you get into your own lawn journey
1. The placement of the RTK receiver is the key
Most robot lawn mowers, including my examination model, are delivered with an RTK receiver. This is a key element in the way the lawns sail without limits – this essentially helps to adjust the positioning data of the satellites, it is therefore correct a few centimeters rather than a few meters. After all, this type of margin could make the difference between a lawn and the middle of the aisle or the flowerbed.
An RTK receiver is in the top of a large fungus, with an antenna exceeding its base. Yuka’s instructions told me that it could be mounted on a post and stuck in the lawn, or attached alongside my house. The first option seemed by far the simplest – especially because I tested my parents, and my father keeps a guard particularly close to his electric tools and would not kindly take new holes appearing next to his house.
Unfortunately, option two is the higher choice if you want your lawn to work effectively. The RTK receiver relies on a direct line of view to a range of satellites in the sky. This means that it must be in a high and fixed position with a wide view of the sky in several different directions, without things like trees and structures that are loomed above.
While attaching the RTK receiver to your home (or, in my case, the wooden side of a self -supporting garage) is a bit of a job, putting it in the lawn is more delicate than it seems only at the start. The receiver requires a power source, which limits where it can go, and you must also be sure that the bot is not going to mow on its own power cable when it is in place.
2. Your load quay needs a good fixed position
Separated from the RTK receiver, the Lawnbot has a load quay, where it returns to load its batteries. Finding a good fixed place so that the Vive Cost Quay is surprisingly difficult.
The floor must be flat and hard. It must be in a position from which the lawn can access the pieces of grass that require a cut. It must be relatively close to a power outlet and positioned so as not to mow its own load cable. It may or may not be necessary within the reach of the Wi-Fi of the room (I always put on this part). And because the bot must have a direct line of view on at least certain satellites while it is moored, it cannot pass under a refuge or folded between the structures. In short, I have not yet found anywhere that works in my test site.
At the start, I tried the charging station on a concrete area by the rear door, but there, the robot kept telling me that the platform had been moved and it could not return. I think it is because on concrete, it is impossible (or, at least difficult) to fix the ground floor station, and the quay was moving a little when the lawn was remote controlled / placed.
3. The sites are full of unexpected obstacles
Since the start of my configuration process, I have been struck by the number of unexpected obstacles that have made themselves known. The lawn has become tangled in the net on fruit plants. He widens in a trench whenever he is invited to make his way on a track – certainly quite deep – pebbles. Less precise cartography and positioning also have training effects: there is a grassy route which may have two large lawns that my review model refuses to mow because it is too narrow. I also had to leave a thick border along the edge of a shallow stream that runs along the side of the courtyard, lest the lawn could try to dive.
None of these things are particularly surprising, and I do not think that they do not represent failures on the part of the Lawnbot. But I urge you to take a moment to consider the disposition of your court, and what could make a challenge, before buying one.
Is it worth it?
At the time of the editorial staff, I came to the point where the lawn will delight two unusual lawn areas in my test site, but it will not return to its platform without help. Even going so far was a challenge, and I would lie if I said that I had not considered throwing it into the neighbor’s pond and being finished with it. But at this stage, I really feel positive about technology.
You see, the mammotion just makes such a good job to mow the lawn. The results are neat and there is no shortage of point, and it even rises from top to bottom of the relatively steep slopes without complaining. It is so much less effort than doing it manually. I don’t even mind having to control him from a distance on the narrow bands he refuses to map, because it is always something that I can do from my phone, while being seated on a play flesh.
If I can find somewhere so that the platform lives, so I don’t need remote control or transport the bot towards and since its base, I will be very satisfied with this. And maybe at that time, I will forget the pain of installing it.
