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The module is essentially the mower\u2019s brain; the researchers can use it to program routes using GPS coordinates that the mower then follows. The team solved lots of little challenges along the way\u2014for example, controlling turns. \u201cMost of the time for four-wheeled vehicles, we use the turning ratio (moving a steering wheel by some amount turns a vehicle\u2019s wheels by a corresponding amount) for moving left and right,\u201d says Zhaohui Liang, a PhD student in Li\u2019s group. \u201cBut this mower is different. It turns based on the speed differential between its left and right wheels. That\u2019s a dynamic function that\u2019s very different from other vehicles we\u2019ve worked with\u2014and we had to develop new code for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That work paid off. In March 2024, Liang and fellow PhD student Peng Zhang successfully tested the mower, which followed a prescribed route without additional input from a human driver. With continued testing to verify the mower can navigate simple routes on its own, the team will next focus on how it will traverse more complicated paths and terrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe first phase of this project was to prove that this concept could work at all,\u201d Li says. \u201cWe\u2019ve completed that phase and have the mower autonomously operating. For the next phase, we\u2019re focusing on coming up with good algorithms to help it navigate not only on flat terrain but to go through hilly areas and to deal with different obstacles to be able to do its job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Li has long researched connected and autonomous vehicles and the roles they might play in our lives as technology matures. While traditional cars and trucks most often grab headlines for autonomous vehicle development, Li says this project demonstrates how the technology will proliferate into vehicles like lawn mowers or snow plows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCars are usually the first vehicles to get advances in autonomy, and then those developed technologies filter to vehicles in different areas,\u201d Liang says. \u201cOnce those technologies that help with things like perception, localization and control are developed for cars, it\u2019s easier to move them down into things like this mower.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ultimately, work on this project may carry over to autonomous vehicle categories, just as it already has drawn on experience working with autonomous cars. For example, Li\u2019s lab group also is focusing on autonomous pavement crack-filling machines. \u201cThat\u2019s another device that\u2019s quite similar to the mower,\u201d Zhang says. \u201cSo we might be able to migrate this module we\u2019ve developed to a new machine and see how well it works for different tasks. That\u2019s a really exciting concept, to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n