Sponsored by: Toro
Project Summary
The goal of this project is to determine a sensing approach and implement the appropriate hardware and software to measure plant performance as a function of location with a residential rotary lawn mower. One way to measure plant performance is through clipping yield as an indicator of plant health and storing it in a database. This product would be used by customers who maintain turf in residential or commercial properties. It could be applied by professional users who are maintaining golf courses, sports fields, and cemeteries. Precision management is the future of minimizing the consumption of resources and achieving sustainability goals. This project creates an opportunity to apply precision management techniques to these sites while eliminating the need for on-site management, paving the way for automated data collection and consolidation for centralized analysis, interpretation, and implementation of appropriate management practices.
Design Goal
Design a sensor that is capable of recording produced grass clippings to a removable drive in the form of a CSV file, with an accuracy of 75% and a repeatability of 90%.
Design Constraints
- Project Budget: $4,000
- Modular: Can be applied to several mower variations
- Functionality: Must not impede mower functionality
- Seasonal: Complete all testing before snowfall
Lawn mower with sensor attachment
Sensor attachment
Figure: Shows correlation between clipping yield and integral of sensor data.
Members of the Project Team
Student Team:
- Blake Baertlein - Major: Computer Engineering
- Timothy Nkemba - Major: Electrical Engineering
- Brandon Onchong’a - Major: Mechanical Engineering
- Will Schneider - Major: Mechanical Engineering
Industry Representative: Dana Lonn
Faculty Advisor: Chong Xu
Pictured left to right: Blake Baertlein, Timothy Nkemba, Brandon Onchong’a, Will Schneider