How does a robotic lawnmower work?
One of the most common questions we get when interacting with a potential customer interested in a robotic lawnmower is "how does a robotic lawnmower work?" It is most easily answered with the answer that a robot mows your lawn within a perimeter marked by a boundary cable with electricity. The robotic lawnmower will mow your lawn until the battery is low and then it follows the boundary cable home to the charging station to recharge the battery. The time and date can be programmed to make the robotic lawnmower fully automatic. This page will discuss and review technical information as well as the importance of choosing the right robotic lawnmower.
Installation of robotic lawnmowers
After an assessment of a garden, a plan is made of how the boundary cable should be laid. Two methods can be used for this.
- The first method is to place the boundary cable on top of the grass and use plastic spikes to attach the cable to the ground. By using plastic spikes, the cable is still slightly exposed but will sink into the ground after a couple of weeks. For gardens that are around 500 square meters or less, this is a good method that is quick to perform. One advantage of the fact that the boundary cable is still partially exposed is that adjustments can be easily made while the robotic lawnmower familiarizes itself with the new installation.
- The second method is to use a cablelayer. A cablelayer is a tool that burys and places the boundary cable a couple of cm below the ground. Cable laying is a service usually offered by an authorized sales representative who specializes in installations of robotic lawnmowers. An installation with a cablelayer saves time as the process of a machine burying the cable and moving forward at the same time offers excellent efficiency. Potential adjustments can be a little more difficult, as the boundary cable must now be re-dug up.
Once the charging station is installed, the boundary cable will create a circuit. Within this circuit, an electric pulse is transmitted that allows the robot to read the boundary cable and know when to stop and turn in a different direction after reaching the boundary cable. This is made possible by the robot having a sensor that reads the pulse in the cable.
Security
Most robot mowers' haircuts are made in random sequences. The mower thus walks around mowing the lawn randomly and only changes direction when it reaches the boundary wire or an obstacle. An obstacle such as a tree can either be left as it is and allow a crash sensor to detect it or be hung with a boundary cable. The robotic lawnmower will either have a mechanical crash sensor where the robot collides with the obstacle to detect it, reverse and then continue in a different direction. Or, as in new versions, mowers have also been equipped with an ultrasonic sensor, which detects objects and before it collides with them and turns in a different direction. The mechanical crash sensor has been proven to be reliable in the sense that it crashes and reverses at every fixed obstacle it encounters. If an obstacle is not firm enough like a flowerbed in which the robot has the strength to run over, the boundary cable must be placed around to protect the area. The ultrasonic sensor, on the other hand, can detect all obstacles regardless of density and can thus make installation easier as smaller obstacles need to be protected by a boundary cable.
The other important sensor that plays a key role from a safety perspective is the lifting sensor. When the robotic lawnmower is lifted from the ground or has somehow hit an obstacle or temporary object like a child's toy, it turns off the mower motor and drive motors. The combination of crash and lifting sensors increases the safety and performance of the product.
Factors to consider before buying a robotic lawnmower
När du tittar på alla olika modeller, är robotgräsklippare ofta kategoriserade efter hur många kvadratmeter en specifik modell kan klippa och hur brant sluttning den kan hantera. Från en kunds perspektiv, är att beräkna storleken av din gräsmatta ett bra första steg. Om det finns någon sluttning kan du ta hjälp av din smartphone och mäta vilken vinkel den har för att sedan kolla om robotgräsklipparen du tänkt köpa klarar denna lutningen. Kompositionen av trädgården kan också vara viktig ifall den har några trånga passager eller är indelad i flera olika delar. Vissa modeller har funktioner där trädgårdar med flera smala passager kan främjas av så kallad ”zonklippning” för att robotgräsklipparen ska hitta till alla delar av gräsmattan. Detta är någonting du behöver ifall din trädgård är mer avancerad.
Av vår erfarenhet har vi märkt att en robot som har enkla användarinställningar och en simpel display har gett mest värde till de flesta av våra kunder. Den sista faktorn som spelar en vital roll är supporten efter inköpet. Ett servicecenter med support, service, reparationsverkstad och ett lager av reservdelar spelar en stor roll. På detta sätt kan kunden få tillgång till produktinformation, felsökningslösningar och tillgång till underhållsservice eller garantianspråk. Vi anser att det viktigaste när man ska välja robotgräsklippare är att den har starka mekaniska funktioner och är enkla att använda, samt att det finns en fungerande efter service-support ifall det skulle behövas.