Automated lawn mower or floor polisher

A new and improved automated lawn mower, comprising:

• a frame having top and bottom surfaces;
• a pair of drive wheels mounted for rotation on opposite sides of said frame, adjacent a front portion of said frame;
• each of said wheels mounted for rotation with an axle;
• each of said axles connected by a clutch to a gear reduction unit;
• each of said gear reduction units having dual output shafts with one output shaft connected to said clutch;
• a second output shaft of each of said gear reduction units mounted by a bearing block on said frame;
• a rotary photo encoder on each of said second gear reduction output shafts;
• a wheel drive motor connected to an input shaft of each of said gear reduction units;
• a photo switch at a front edge of said frame for detecting uncut grass;
• a vertically extending shaft extending through a central portion of said frame;
• a variable speed blade drive motor on said upper frame surface connected to said vertically extending shaft;
• switch means for manually regulating the speed of said blade drive motor;
• a mower blade mounted for rotation with said vertically extending shaft beneath said frame;
• a castor wheel centrally mounted adjacent a rear side of said frame;
• a touch grass sensor formed from three metallic strips mounted on a rear side edge of said frame for detecting cut and uncut grass;
• battery means operably connected for powering both of said wheel drive motors and said blade drive motor;
• an infrared obstacle detector mounted at each corner on the upper surface of said frame;
• control means operably connected for stopping said blade drive motor in response to said photo switch;
• and
• computer control means operably connected for independently controlling each of said wheel drive motors in accordance with signals received from said touch grass sensor, said rotary photo encoders and said infrared obstacle detectors for steering said motor along a boundary line between cut and uncut grass.