We’ve always felt that the hacker community is a unique one. Make reader [Gnomic] is reinforcing that feeling by running his own contest with unused equipment. [Gnomic] is offering a free Robot lawnmower to someone, as long as they send the completed project writeup to Make. The mower is a Robomower RL 850 and you have to pick it up in Richmond Va. To enter, you have to email [Gnomic] your proposal within the next 10 days. He will then choose what he feels would be the most interesting one to give the mower to. We’d love to see one of our readers get in on the action with this one. We would really love to see our logo on the final robot when it gets published to Make.
i wonder how he got so many mowers that he was willing to give them away O_o
and why mowers? XD
@biozz
I think you just answered your own question. Some company probably donated them and thus that’s why they’re doing it with mowers. :P
I wonder if he’s willing to ship it (assuming the winner pays of course).
@John Avitable
i bet XD
I’ve always wanted one of those, but the wife won’t let me… she says it’s too dangerous. I tell her that we live in an area that is constantly under siege from bears and the like. She says, screw you, I don’t like it. stupid non techie women.
@biozz,
He has one. a single unit that he isn’t using.
here is some information on that thing… i have a half broken in yard …
http://robomowerwiki.com/index.php/RoboMower
Is that waterproof? might be handy to shave your armpits.
Or make a superdupe Roomba for ballrooms..
sorry to disturb again …
more pics und infos on a RL 500 (looks same as my RL1000) in german …
http://www.roboternetz.de/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=39738
Considering the yard of the place we’re renting is about 4x this things max cap, I’d bet better off stripping parts off of a Roomba & playing Frankenstein w/the riding mower.
(hmmm…)
I wish they’d build logic into stuff and make it mow logically in paths…
There is a vac that can do this now and follow around objects. FAIL EVERYONE.
I agree, my robomower rl-1000 does not do narrow paths well at all, it gets caught up in them for along time wasting time and battery power. I often put a trash can at the entrance of the pathway after it completes this area, so it won’t go in there again. I’m thinking I would like to re-layout my perimeter wire in such a way (perhaps up and down in rows, or zig-zags) so the mower will cut the entire path area during it’s perimeter cut, then never re-enter the area. Keeping in mind that the mower follows a single wire during perimeter cut at the start of mowing session, then after it ends the perimeter mowing and turns into the lawn for it’s regular mowing phase it will then stop when it encounters a perimeter wire and change direction, yet ignores wires that are layed out right up next to each other (parallel) and drives right past them. With a well thought out wire layout, and a little extra wire, it should work.