Robotic lawn mower supervisor

[sundberg84]

Just dropping a small project i made here for the upcoming season.

Its a motion and distance combined sensor sitting besides my robotic lawn mower. Whenever there is a movement it measures the distance, and therefore I can see if my mower is out or charging.

Why not only a motion detector - well I have alot of other things happening in the shed as well (cats, children, rabbits) and i also wants to know if the mower is charging or out cutting gras.

With a small lua script in Domoticz i hope to achieve a push notise whenever its trapped outside for to long.

Its made of my EasyPCB, a Arduino Pro mini 5v, Nrf24l01+ radio, HC-SR04 distance sensor and HC-SR501 motion sensor.

Code for 2.0

// Enable debug prints
#define MY_DEBUG

// Enable and select radio type attached
#define MY_RADIO_NRF24
//#define MY_RADIO_RFM69

// #define MY_NODE_ID 12

#include <SPI.h>
#include <MySensors.h>
#include <NewPing.h>
  
#define DIGITAL_INPUT_SENSOR 3   // The digital input you attached your motion sensor.  (Only 2 and 3 generates interrupt!)
#define CHILD_ID 1   // Id of the sensor child
#define CHILD_ID_DIST 2
#define TRIGGER_PIN  6  // Arduino pin tied to trigger pin on the ultrasonic sensor.
#define ECHO_PIN     5  // Arduino pin tied to echo pin on the ultrasonic sensor.
#define MAX_DISTANCE 300 // Maximum distance we want to ping for (in centimeters). Maximum sensor distance is rated at 400-500cm.

// Initialize motion message
MyMessage msg(CHILD_ID, V_TRIPPED);

// Initialize distance message
NewPing sonar(TRIGGER_PIN, ECHO_PIN, MAX_DISTANCE); // NewPing setup of pins and maximum distance.
MyMessage msgdist(CHILD_ID_DIST, V_DISTANCE);
int lastDist;
boolean metric = true;
int oldTripped = 0;
int tripped = 0; 
unsigned long lastRequest = 0;

void setup()  
{  
  pinMode(DIGITAL_INPUT_SENSOR, INPUT);      // sets the motion sensor digital pin as input
  metric = getConfig().isMetric;
}

void presentation()  {
  // Send the sketch version information to the gateway and Controller
  sendSketchInfo("Distance and Motion", "1.3");

  // Register all sensors to gw (they will be created as child devices)
  present(CHILD_ID, S_MOTION);
  delay(100);
  present(CHILD_ID_DIST, S_DISTANCE);
}

void loop(){     

unsigned long now = millis();

//Read digital motion value
tripped = digitalRead(DIGITAL_INPUT_SENSOR);
if (tripped != oldTripped){
  lastRequest = now;
  
  // Distance?
  int dist = metric?sonar.ping_cm():sonar.ping_in();
  Serial.print("Ping: ");
  Serial.print(dist); // Convert ping time to distance in cm and print result (0 = outside set distance range)
  Serial.println(metric?" cm":" in");
  if (dist == 0){
    return; //read again if 0, because 0 is error!
  }

  if (dist != lastDist) {
      send(msgdist.set(dist));
      lastDist = dist;
  }
   // Motion?
  send(msg.set(tripped?"1":"0"));  // Send tripped value to gw 
  oldTripped = tripped;
}

if ((now - lastRequest) > (60UL * 1000UL * 60UL)){
lastRequest = now;
Serial.print("Heartbeat");
sendHeartbeat();}
}

[korttoma]

Nice sensor on a stick @sundberg84 . I have ordered a robotic lawn mower to and was thinking I would monitor this exact same thing but with a sensbender and a microswitch.

[sundberg84]

Thanks @korttoma! I was thinking about some switch, either mechanical or magnetic but the robot is not gentle at all when it enters the charging station so i descided to go with this that do not have any parts that needs to be close to eachother.

[Mark Swift]

It's the same model I'm trying to fix the crappy rain detector, remember, we spoke about having a node on the mower that wakes and checks an external soil / rain sensor... I never did figure out the V_TEXT stuff ;-)

[sundberg84]

@Mark-Swift oh, strange - my rain sensors works just fine.
Have you talked with the support? It can just be a software issue - look at robot-forums and get the support to send you a updated software version. Its easy to just download to a USB stick and connect to the robot.

[Mark Swift]

@sundberg84 I sure have, in fact it's been replaced already, but has made little difference - looking around, it seems a fairly common issue. I've come to the conclusion Landroid just likes to take a shower :-)

[sundberg84]

@Mark-Swift Haha ;) Yes - that can be the reason - its great you dont have to wash it that often then.
I have heard the issue as well before... I hope you find a good sollution to your problem!

[korttoma]

I finally got my mower yesterday an as soon as I got home from work I just had to MySensor it.
It is simply a Sensebender micro on a stick with a microswitch. So far it seems to work as expected.

[Danielo Rodríguez]

Can you provide more details on wiring and more close ups of the circuit and the sensor itself?
Thanks