Design of an Autonomous Tracked Mower Robot using Vision-Based Remote Control

Nowadays, autonomous vehicles and automated guided vehicles (AGV) are one of the most up-to-date subjects because of the readiness of the sensors, actuators, and real-time controllers. Similar to the AGV, an autonomous track mower robot was designed in this research. The mobile robot, which had a National Instruments real-time controller, was remotely controlled from a computer. Unlike to common mowers, the mower has track geometry in order to climb up a steep path. The position of the robot was controlled by two DC geared motors and feedback by using vision system. A web camera was installed on the robot to capture the environment, make a decision, and change the robot trajectory. Experiments have shown that robot can cut tall grass and operate in a specific task.