MCI part of advanced automower development project
Just as it is possible to get an automower for the lawn, a new and more advanced lawn care robot for golf courses and other larger turf areas is coming. It cuts and aerates the turf as well as remove weeds.
The Sønderborg-based company Sidis Engineering is developing a brand new automower, autoTurf, which contrary to the automowers in the single-family house gardens is much bigger, drives at a higher speed and is equipped with a much more advanced GPS control. It is a differential GPS control where the signals from Danish base stations supply the GPS satellites. The GPS system is not too precise, as the position may deviate 2-10 meters from the correct position. The Danish base stations are incorporated in order to obtain a positioning with a deviation of only a few centimeters. As these stations have a completely fixed and known position, the autoTurf-position, which is calculated on the basis of the GPS satellites, can be corrected. Thus, the autoTurf robot can follow a preset route precisely as opposed to the small robots in the single-family house gardens, which often drive around randomly. As Sidis’ robot drives autonomously, a lot of safety is built in. For instance the robot stops if the range detection registers obstacles such as human beings, golf bags etc. and starts again when the obstacle is gone.
MCI develops dynamic planning
The development of the autoTurf lawn care robot is part of a development project of the same name, which runs for three years and is supported by the region of Southern Denmark. The project task is to construct a battery-supported diesel/electrically-driven system for the lawn care robot. The purpose is to optimize the energy consumption and runtime utilization. The Mads Clausen Institute participates in the project with a PhD-student and the research task is among other things to supplement the route planner with more dynamic planning, which takes account for unforeseen obstacles such as golf player, abandoned objects etc. and drive somewhere else to continue the work. Moreover, focus will be aimed at ensuring that safety is considered at highest level according to international safety standards.
For further information, please contact Associate Professor Søren Top on ph. 6550 1613 or via e-mail top@mci.sdu.dk.