R/C Lawn Mower (Ideas, What to Avoid, Pitfalls?)

Projects General Guidance
1

As the subject suggests, I'm starting a project to build an R/C push mower.

Parts & Pieces:
24" Push Mower
2 - 24 v high-torque mobility scooter motors
2- 12 v mobility scooter batteries
1 - R/C Quadcopter & Transmitter
Arduino Uno

My idea is, that the Arduino will sit between the receiver and the motors, and using relays, control the motor directions, I should be able to write code to use the following combos to run tracks to move the mower.

[Drive Forward/Backwards]
Left Stick Up -- FWD FWD
Left Stick Down -- RVS RVS

[Turn While Driving FWD]
Left Stick Up + Right Stick Left -- Left Motor Slows
Left Stick Up + Right Stick Right -- Right Motor Slows

[Turn While Driving BKWD]
Left Stick Down + Right Stick Left -- Left Motor Slows
Left Stick Down + Right Stick Right -- Right Motor Slows

[Spin In Place]
Left Stick Null + Right Stick Left -- RVS FWD
Left Stick Null + Right Stick Right -- FWD RVS

On either stick press, kill the mower and any FWD/RVS action, I'd also like it to kill on range exceeded.

So,. as I get ready to pick up the motors, and batteries, as well as designing some mounts for them I figured I would see what kind of thoughts the community would have on things I've not thought of.

2

Search the forum ands save a LOT of typing.

3

You could probably just do this with the RC setup with motor controllers and not need the Arduino

4

Driving real-world vehicles without proportional control sucks.
Have you ever played with a TOY RC car that only goes full speed or only goes straight, full left or full right?
Get proper h-bridge controls so you can proportionally drive the motors.

Most push mowers have fixed wheels front and rear.
If you are driving the rear wheels with the motors, then you will want the front wheels to be casters.

Edit: If I were doing this, I would have it controlled like a zero turn mower. Both joysticks forward is full forward. Both joysticks backward is full reverse. Joysticks at different positions means the motors are driven at different speeds resulting in a turn. Go google up a video on driving a zero turn mower.

5

You probably need some kind of fail-safe so it stop if it's not constantly receiving a transmission. You could even put a "dead man's switch" on the remote.

Assuming you (or the user) are not disabled, personally I'd rather walk behind the mower than drive it from the porch. :stuck_out_tongue: ...Well, it might be fun to drive for 10 minutes.