Lawnmower+stake+rope=Analog Robotic Lawn Service

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tNVOhtvPEw]

[Kirov], a regular reader and one of our most notorious commenters, tipped us off about this lawn mowing hack. On one hand we’re wary that this is bait for a huge flame war, but on the other hand it’s a hack that brings a smile to our mischievous faces. By pounding a stake into the center of the yard and connecting a mower to it with a piece of rope, [Korey99] has achieve an automated lawn mower. He tied the self-propelled mower’s throttle bar down to make the machine run unattended. There’s no kill switch or any kind of remote control for the lawn mower so we wonder what happens when the rope gets all wound up?

75 thoughts on “Lawnmower+stake+rope=Analog Robotic Lawn Service

  1. if only i had a circular backyard this would be perfect!

    looks like it wraps inwards so at the end its just going to get stuck around the stake, relax grab a lemonade and watch the mower do the work (and make sure it doesn’t run over anything)!

  2. @Tane
    Simpler yet is to give it to your kid and have him do it. No extra expense needed, if you happen to have a child of the right physical and mental abilities needed.

  3. I saw this very hack YEARS ago on TV. Some story about an old fellow that did all sorts of stuff like this. He had a plane (hell, he might have built that too — can’t remember) so he had a grass runway for it. He had a series of “sockets” down the center of the runway to hold his bar/spool setup. He had some sort of kill switch figured out to cut it off when it ran out of rope/cable. He’d fool around in his shop or whatever while the mower ran. When he heard it stop, he’d go out and move it to the next socket.

  4. Bend the front wheels to approximate an ackerman angle http://home.howstuffworks.com/synchro-steer1.htm

    Also you can accomidate safety and auto-shutoff by making a simple front bumper that kills the engine, possible by shorting the spark plug to the chassis/engine case (older engines sometimes had a metal strap poised above the spark plug for such a purpose).

    Place a movable plywood wall where the mower should stop.

    4. Profit (or beer I guess)

    Bonus points for installing a round border to your yard to end trimming. Plant roses or flowers in it and pretend it is a planned garden. Add “peeing kid” or “topless unarmed lady” birdbath for the mower to start from, that way you don’t have to ever pull up the stake in the middle.

  5. The farmer on Sean the Sheep did this in “The Goat” using well…A Goat! I did it 25 years ago in my back yard had a string tied to the plug wire so when it wound up all the way it pulled the wire off.Cost me a shoe and a baseball also lost 3 months allowance replacing the neighbors window when the golf ball that I didn’t know about took flight

  6. “There’s no kill switch or any kind of remote control for the lawn mower so we wonder what happens when the rope gets all wound up?”

    You’re not seeing the big picture here, also featuring the porch and the proud owner crushing beer cans. By the time the mower hits the pole it’s about time to replenish the beer supply anyway.
    He probably timed it too!

  7. @Cole – “Why not just buy a goat and let him do his thing.”

    Not had a lot to do with goats then? :))

    After mowing a paddock with a slasher I can testify I would rather follow this around just to avoid the vibration. An oldie, but a goodie.

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