this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2025
374 points (99.7% liked)

Technology

77769 readers
2684 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
L3s@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world
technopagan@lemmy.world
L4s@lemmy.world
L3s@hackingne.ws
L4s@hackingne.ws
374
OpenMower: Let's upgrade cheap off-the-shelf robotic mowers to modern, smart RTK GPS based lawn mowing robots! (github.com)
submitted 3 months ago by Pro@programming.dev to c/technology@lemmy.world
35 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/36230046

YouTube Video.

Let's be honest: The current generation of robotic lawn mowers sucks. Basically all of these bots drive in a random direction until they hit the border of the lawn, rotate for a randomized duration and repeat. I think we can do better!

Therefore, we have disassembled the cheapest off-the-shelf robotic mower we could find (YardForce Classic 500) and were surprised that the hardware itself is actually quite decent:

  • Geared sensored brushless motors for the wheels
  • A sensored brushless motor for the mower motor itself
  • The whole construction seems robust, waterproof and all in all thought through
  • All components are connected using standard connectors, therefore upgrading the hardware is easily possible.

The bottom line is: The bot itself is surprisingly high quality and doesn't need to be changed at all. We just need some better software in there.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] DarkAri@lemmy.blahaj.zone 29 points 3 months ago (9 children)

I have a similar idea for one day when we can actually use the government for good again. We should build a low bandwidth nationwide digital radio network. Not owned by corporations but by the people. Include things like rtk capability by default. The telecomms and isps will try to fight this with billions of inflation dollars, but if we do manage to get this in, everyone could have access to the internet at low speeds without paying, and it would be relativly easy to maintain. An open standard that would allow many cool technologies like robotics that are much safer and precise.

Potential aplications are, nonsibscription medical devices, realtime rtk everywhere, a huge boon for construction with a standard coordinate system. Documenting things like underground cables and pipes easily. Property lines. Self driving cars that can communicate with each other and work together. Access to the internet and communications for the poor. Cheap animal tracking collars. Drones that can fly across the country without needing a data plan. So many things. It would be an efficency gain accross the entire economy.

load more comments (6 replies)