Control interfaces for autonomous lawn mowers
AssigneeScythe Robotics, Inc.
InventorsMatthew Alexander Kaplan, Evan Thomas Kaufman, Matthew G. Quick, Davis Thorp Foster, John Gordon Morrison, Robert Johnstone McCutcheon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Techniques and architectures for manually controlling a lawn mower while a user is positioned on or within proximity to the lawn mower are discussed herein. For example, the lawn mower can include a control interface having a handle that the user grips with one or more fingers and a control attached to the handle to receive input from one or more other fingers of the user. The control can include a lever or other element with opposing tabs configured to receive input from fingers of the user.
Claims17
An autonomous lawn mower comprising:
- a first wheel;
- a control interface including:
- a handle;
- and
- a first input control assembly coupled to the handle, the first input control assembly including a lever and a sensor configured to detect a position of the lever, the lever including a first tab configured to be manipulated by a first finger of a first hand of a user to cause the lever to move in a first direction, and a second tab configured to be manipulated by a second finger of the first hand of the user to cause the lever to move in a second direction;
- and
- processing circuitry communicatively coupled to the control interface and configured to:
- receive a signal from the sensor;
- and
- cause the first wheel to move based at least in part on the signal.
A lawn mower comprising:
- a first wheel;
- an input control assembly including a lever and a sensor configured to detect a position of the lever, the lever including a first control and a second control disposed in an opposing manner, the first control being configured to be manipulated by a first finger and the second control being configured to be manipulated by a second finger;
- a speed selector located proximate to the input control assembly;
- and
- processing circuitry communicatively coupled to the input control assembly and configured to:
- receive a first signal from the speed selector;
- set a maximum speed for the lawn mower based at least in part on the first signal;
- receive a second signal from the sensor;
- and
- cause the first wheel to move based at least in part on the first signal and the maximum speed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.