I have an Husqvarna automower that cuts my lawn automatically.
I have a fence in the back yard, with an opening and a door in it so the lawn mower can get through and cut the front lawn. The problem is, I have two little dogs that will follow the lawn mower through the opening, if the door does not shut after the lawn mower goes through.
I need / want to create a project that when the lawn mower comes close to the fence door, the door in the fence knows it is there, and then opens up. If anyone knows, or has done a similar project, please let me know. I thought of the unltra sonic sensors, but the dogs would trigger them too. So something that only knows it is the robot lawn mower approaching.
RoryB:
I have a fence in the back yard, with an opening and a door in it so the lawn mower can get through and cut the front lawn. The problem is, I have two little dogs that will follow the lawn mower through the opening, if the door does not shut after the lawn mower goes through.
The dogs will be smart enough to just follow the mower BEFORE the door closes no matter what solution you think of. I don't think this is really fail-safe in the long run.
Seriously: consider a device that lifts the mower over the fence
olf2012:
The dogs will be smart enough to just follow the mower BEFORE the door closes no matter what solution you think of. I don't think this is really fail-safe in the long run.
Seriously: consider a device that lifts the mower over the fence
If the dogs are small, the device will also lift the dogs over the fence.
Maybe a gate-system with two doors will work. So the mower goes in the first door, and if it’s recognized as the mower for example with rfid, the first door closes and the next door opens.
The door can be made with linear actuators or stepper motors
Thank you for your replies. With RFID, I had thought you had to be extremely close. I would need an RFID that would work from 4-10 inches from the mower. Is there one out there?
RoryB:
Thank you for your replies. With RFID, I had thought you had to be extremely close. I would need an RFID that would work from 4-10 inches from the mower. Is there one out there?
RFID means the ID can be passive, requiring no power, a key fob, a shoe tag, a sticker on the item of value at a retail store etc. The reader emits and reads its own electromagnetic field of any size necessary for the application. The scanners at a retail store are much more powerful and directional than the pads of a door security, which requires one to almost touch the pad with the key fob to activate the door lock. You can combine a more powerful RFID reader with a PIR detector so that when the PIR detector is triggered, by a dog or lawn mower or rodent, the RFID kicks on to determine if it is a lawn mower.
Automatic gates are a safety risk.
Will your gate have hardware to detect that one of your dogs gets stuck as the gate is closing?
Will it be reliable enough to risk your dog's potential injury or potential escape?
I was going to say the same. However you could have a hall-effect sensor to measure the current going through the motor, so that you can determine if something is jammed, without applying enough load to injure the dogs. However this level of sophistication (preventing the dogs from getting out, trying not to injure them) makes the system expensive, hard to implement and error-prone. At this point it would almost be better to just put one of those perimeter collars on the dog that gives it a tingle if it approaches the perimeter, so that your gate can be a simpler design.
How about some kind of rotary gate arrangement like a turnstyle. The gate only rotates if mower rfid is present and the mechanism only has room for the mower to squeeze through. Maybe the mower could push the gate, so the gate only needs a lock and not a motor to turn it.
I don't know what distance animal microchips can be read from but perhaps the system could also prevent use if a dog was detected in the vicinity.
Some great ideas, and safety concerns. Thank you all for your input.
The lawnmower could push the gate open, but would need a lock system still. So maybe the push system, with an RFID system.
The concern with a Passive RFID is distance to read, or having to be real close to read, and I do not know if they sell or make an Active RFID for distance. The only reason I need some distance, is the lawn mower moves at a pretty good clip, so would need the lock to unlock about 8 inches away.
create a 'garage' for the mower, with detectors inside. gate on other side.
mower moves towards garage
sends rf signal to start sequence.
garage mounted sensors detect if pets are in the 'garage'
mower moves to front of garage
final 'garage empty check.
mower moves into garage, closes door behind
opens door ahead
mows front yard.
returns to 'garage'
===========
mower moves to lift pad
davit arm moves, lowers lifting hook (electromagnet?)
lifts mower,
davit arm swings over gate,
lowers mower onto front pad.
I cannot say for sure, but I do not think that the arduino will be controlling the mower at all.
At the point that it is approaching the gate it is following a guide wire in the ground. It moves along the sire until it is through the gate and runs our of guide wire. Then it resumes its 'roomba' style bump and go navigation.
So any method for getting though the gate that needs the mower to stop is not going to be applicable.
you did not say if the dogs would be joyful to stand in front of the mower as it approached the gate.
if not, then you only need to drive straight on thru,.
however, you may have missed the sprit of this forum.
rip out all the electronics on the mower and replace the lot with Arduino bits and bobs !
3 RFID. (Mower, dog 1, dog 2).
1 gate slide up/down.
1 RFID reader.
1 beam across gate opening.
1 beeper (active during gate motion).
Question? Do the dogs have collars?
Fit RFID to top/front of mower and to dog collars.
When the mower comes near the gate, open the slide and mower goes through.
The beam across the gate breaks and shows the mower in the gate And detects the mower through the gate when the beam is reconnected.
As soon as beam is reestablished close the gate and have the beeper sound (like a reversing beeper) as the gate closes.
This will warn the dogs that they should not enter the gate (dogs are not dumb).
Or it will tell them to hurry if they are too smart.
Sensors on the motor will tell if the gate jams while closing on a dog.
RFIDs on the dogs can be used to detect the dogs in close proximity to the gate and set off the beeper as a warning.
Using the beeper on opening can be bad as the dogs learn that the beep means the gate is about to open.
You don't need the beeps to tell you the gate is about to open or opening when all you need to do is watch the mower approaching the gate.
A current sensor on the motor to detect a gate is jammed is not the best way - it'll require quite an increase in force for it to react. Much safer is some kind of sensor on the gate itself: a microswitch with push bar in front of it. Very little force needed to trigger the switch, and you get a clean on/off signal out of it before any real force is applied.
Also how about a rectangular tunnel with simple flaps at both ends. The mower pushes open one flap, enters the tunnel, and the flap closes behind it before the mover pushes open the flap at the far end. The flaps just operate with gravity, no springs or motors so pretty safe. The flaps do though have locks so only the presence of the mower lets them be pushed open.
Another idea is to have a WiFI enabled treat dispenser at the far end of the garden from the gate. When the mower needs to use the gate the the dispenser makes a noise, flashes a light and drops out a couple of treats for the dogs.
The delux version of all this uses GPS trackers on the dogs and the mower. The locks only operate if the mower is near the gate and the dogs are far away. An escape dog generates an SMS alarm and of course you can find it with the tracker.
the automatic mower does a random pattern to mow the grass, but at certain times, follows a wire under the ground as an antenna. you can have many of these wires and you can switch them with a simple relay, so you are not locked into one path.
second,
How do I connect to my Automower®?
The Automower® Connect app allows for remote monitoring and control of your mower. You can receive your mower’s current status on your iOS or Android smartphone, allowing you to:
• Tell Automower® to stop, start or park.
• Adjust Automower®’s settings remotely.
• Monitor Automower®’s location through GPS tracking.
so, from you Arduino, you should be able to
• Tell Automower® to stop, start or park.
• Adjust Automower®’s settings remotely.
• Monitor Automower®’s location through GPS tracking.
PARK will find the wire and follow to the charging station.
from the charging station, once charged and ready to mow, the mower follows the antenna out to the end, then roams.
you can have that first antenna line be for the front yard and time the unit to run while your dogs are off doing other things.
run to location #1, where it is detected with your arduino, then send a stop command. run your tests for location of dogs, drop treats elsewhere.
===========
auto mowers are very short, much shorter than a dog.
you can make a mower sized chute that the mower drives through, small for the dogs, but large enough for the mower
put on a flap as mentioned by others so the chute opening is not an attraction.
so, from you Arduino, you should be able to
• Tell Automower® to stop, start or park.
• Adjust Automower®'s settings remotely.
• Monitor Automower®'s location through GPS tracking.
Electric fence transformer...electrify the gate. The mower won't care, but after the dogs get the piss shocked out of them a couple times they'll stay away from the gate...unless they are really, really stupid.
