Solar Powered Automated Lawn Mower with Lawn Coverage

Project Title

Solar Powered Automated Lawn Mower with Lawn Coverage

Project Area of Specialization Electrical/Electronic EngineeringProject Summary

The name of our project is Solar powered automated lawn mower, which itself tells us about the specifications and work we are going to do in our project. There are basically two sources from which we can take power, one is from PV solar as a renewable energy source and the other is conventional grid to increase the reliability of our robot. As, we know that the power coming from PV panel is fluctuating because it depends on the sun light falling on the surface of panel. The voltage given by solar panel is low and fluctuating as well as the current is also high. We need to minimize this high current because it causes heating of components and losses throughout the circuit by increasing the voltage at the input of motor loads and this can be easily achieved by Boost DC-DC converter. Now, to maintain a constant voltage for the smooth operation of motor loads we are basically introducing Bidirectional DC-DC converter that will basically compare the voltage attained on output of boost converter and the battery available at the input. The system reliable enough that it should operate in all the conditions whether the sun is at its peak or not so that the work is continued in a smooth manner.

Project Objectives

Making a power efficient fully automated robot which is powered by the dc battery and the solar panel that to at the same time which after tracking the external boundary of the area to be mowed down moves towards the centre of the field or area in the form of vertex by copying the exact same outline or boundary that was tracked and saved in the memory of the microcontroller before but now with a reduced parameter and lesser distance from the centre of the field to the path boundary made by the robot.

Project Implementation Method

In this part of the report, we will investigate the research work that has been done so far in the field of automating lawn mowers. We all know that world is moving towards green energy and technology is flourishing day by day. So, according to the researchers there are basically two types of automation done in Lawn mowers till date: • Boundary line condition • Without boundary line condition A. Boundary Line Condition The mowers working with boundary line condition are the ones in which user defines a boundary line and then according to the installed algorithm it moves rather randomly or in a specified manner. The very reason of providing this boundary line is that machine does not collide, fall somewhere in the pool or flower bed. When we talk about boundary line condition then the principle followed is called Chaos principal. Robotic mowers with boundary line condition have no way of determining what the surface of the lawn looks like. They therefore simply drive over the lawn at random. The whole thing looks chaotic at glance, but over time every spot gets mowed. The robotic mowers stop at the boundary wire and then continue in a different direction. Some robotic mowers do not have a boundary wire but have a sensor that detects the end of the lawn. The chaos principle is the same. The entire lawn is simply mowed at random. The problem here is that some areas are mowed very frequently, even if they have already been mowed and other areas especially those that are difficult to reach are mowed less frequently. This type of grass cutting basically creates unevenness which is unfavourable for the user that has paid the price and as well as the person looking at lawn from outside.

Benefits of the Project

The solar lawn mower is a fully automated grass cutting robotic vehicle powered by solar energy that also avoids obstacles and is capable of fully automated grass cutting without the need of any human intervention. The system uses 12v batteries to power the vehicle movement motors as well as the grass cutter motor. We use a solar panel to charge the battery. The grass cutter and Vehicle motors are interfaced to an Arduino Nano that controls the working of all the motors. It is also used to interface an ultrasonic sensor for object detection. The SoC moves the bot in the forward direction in case no obstacle is detected. On obstacle detection, the ultrasonic sensor monitors it and the SoC thus stops the grass cutter motor to avoid any damage to the object/human/animal whatever it is. To detect the boundaries, the bot uses Light dependent resistors (LDR) on a right angle to trigger start event. The detection of the laser on the other side triggers the bot to stop and turn a right angle clockwise and move to next row. The bot takes another right angle turn clockwise and moves forward till the next laser fence is detected. The detection of both the lasers simultaneously triggers the stop event. The L293D9 bi-motor controller/driver is used for motor load operation.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The lawn mower that we are planning to make is powered by the solar panel as well the dc battery to make the operation of the lawn mower more efficient and for it to spend more time on the field and not to die out during operation. So, basically all the motor loads and drivers including the main computing unit the microcontroller and rest of the sensors would be powered by the solar panel during runtime, the photonic energy falling on the plates of the solar panel would be converted into electrical energy and would be given to the motor loads through the motor drivers and as well as the bldc cutter. If for some reason the photovoltaic panel falls short of giving enough power to the motor drivers on which they are unable to produce enough torque for the machine to move forward, whether it be due to bad lighting or pollutants on the glass screen of the solar panel, this power deficiency would be satisfied with the help of the dc battery that relates to the motor drivers as well. Thus, making sure for the robot to operate for long periods without dying out as well as the power deficiency is mutually solved by the connection of a dc battery and as well as a solar panel making it more efficient at the same time

Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry AgricultureOther IndustriesCore Technology RoboticsOther TechnologiesSustainable Development Goals Good Health and Well-Being for People, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Climate ActionRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	24680
IR2110	Equipment	10	150	1500
Resistor	Equipment	15	2	30
Capacitor	Equipment	15	10	150
Arduino	Equipment	2	1500	3000
Solar Pannel(80w)	Equipment	1	7000	7000
battery	Equipment	1	9000	9000
Robot Body	Equipment	1	2000	2000
Travelling	Miscellaneous	1	2000	2000