Anatomy of a Huge Self-Driving Mower
We’ve had some fun hacking together autonomous mowers powered by cheap electric wheelchair powertrains obtained on the flooded-by-govt-subsidies second hand market — but the autopilot related technology available in 2019 enables us to achieve much more. Exhibit A: That’s a timelapse … Continued
Meet Precision Mule
Once you’ve got your autonomous mower running, you’ll likely take a substantial time-hit defining and adjusting the precise path that you want it to cover as it mows the lawn. In ArduPilot world, the set of coordinates (or waypoints) that your rover … Continued
The Taming of the u-blox ZED-F9P
When the UPS guy drops off some new long-anticipated electronics component at your front door, you may be hit with two competing thoughts: First-date-level excitement about the capabilities of the new component and the possibilities it will open up for your … Continued
Piecing Together an Auto Mowing Rig
There are about 8 months from spring ’till fall in southeastern USA where the grass grows at an ever increasing rate, eventually outpacing even the most avid outdoorsman’s desire to jump on a lawn mower. This simple fact, combined with both a rapid fall … Continued
A Hacker’s Guide to the K501G
The post last month on RTK GNSS systems continues to generate conversation both on this blog and offline. It turns out that I wasn’t the only person who entered the world of RTK without a perfect knowledge of the rules … Continued
80 Years Well Lived
Today I want to break away from the world of robotics and wish Happy 80th Birthday to my Grandaddy. Grandaddy was born on May 20, 1937 in rural northwest Alabama. He grew up in a poor time in a poor … Continued
Rover 2 Photo Essay
Welcome back guys! I think the last post touched a nerve — it seems that many of you guys have had difficulty breaking into the precision GPS market. If you’re not yet inspired to take the precision RTK GPS plunge, just … Continued
Spilling the Beans on RTK
June 29, 2019 Update — The RTK GNSS space has improved massively in the past 2 years. Not surprisingly, u-blox is leading the charge with outstanding products that are finally bringing robust centimeter-level GNSS to a vast untapped set of new applications, industries … Continued
RTK Autopilot Upgrade (part 1)
Welcome back fellow roboticists! I trust you guys had a great weekend. Over the weekend I decided to supercharge the roll-out speed for this project. So, without further delay, we present Rover 2 RTK Autopilot Upgrade: Whoa, last time we … Continued