OpenMower: Robot Hardware | YardForce Classic 500 Teardown, Mainboard Replacement, Firmware Install
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 พ.ค. 2024
- In this video I'm showing how I replaced the electronics in my YardForce Classic 500 robotic mower. The first step is to disassemble the mower. Then I configured the hardware and installed Ubuntu on my Raspberry Pi. Finally I installed my custom electronics in the original enclosure.
I hope that you like the video! Thank you to all my Patreons and for all the support I'm getting.
Since many of you asked which mower exactly I bought, it's this one:
amzn.to/3NWgIxk
LINKS
Discord: / discord
GitHub: github.com/ClemensElflein/Ope...
Patreon: / clemenselflein
Blog: x-tech.online/
DOWNLOADS
You can get the STL for the 3d printed antenna mount here:
www.printables.com/model/1758...
Serial Redirect Firmware:
github.com/ClemensElflein/Ope...
OpenMower Firmware:
github.com/ClemensElflein/Ope...
Raspberry Pi config.txt:
github.com/ClemensElflein/Ope...
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
01:39 - Unboxing
02:27 - Teardown
05:44 - Replace Connectors
09:22 - Setup Hardware
17:35 - Assembling the Robot
CREDITS
Thank you to all my Patreons!
And a huge thanks to my top-tier Patreons:
Nic Sagez
Kirk Gleason
Mit Pat
Krunal Patel
Christof Baumgärtner
Paul Bouchier
Parts of the thumbnail and all background music is licensed from shutterstock.com
DISCLAIMER
Under no circumstances will Clemens Elflein be responsible or liable in any way for any content, including but not limited to, any errors or omissions in the content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of any content communicated in this video, whether by Clemens Elflein or a third party.
In no event shall Clemens Elflein be liable for any special, indirect or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits arising out of or in connection with the availability, use or performance of any information communicated in this video.
Due to factors beyond the control of Clemens Elflein, he cannot guarantee against improper use or unauthorized modifications of this information.
Clemens Elflein assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video.
Use this information at your own risk. Clemens Elflein recommends safe practices when performing any do it yourself repairs and or with tools seen or implied in this video.
Due to factors beyond the control of Clemens Elflein, no information contained in this video shall create any expressed or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result.
Any injury, damage, or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or from the information contained in this video is the sole responsibility of the user and not Clemens Elflein. - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
This is spectacular. Can you show us the build of the main board in a video? How to order it. How to populate it. All the connectors, motor drivers, etc.?
Yes Iv asked the same, no response? It's the perfect project, but missing some info
Holy moly! I just subscribed less than five minutes ago after seeing the first OpenMower video. What impeccable timing you have!
This is brilliant. I've been eyeing autonomous mowers for a while, but hacking them to my benefit hadn't even occurred to me. With the cost of this, it's certainly an enticing project.
Can't wait for a plug and play kit and hopefully home assistant integration! So exciting to watch the progress!
Me 2
Same here
This is one insanely good tutorial. Excellent quality and insights. Can't wait for more!
It is always wonderful watching years of work/knowledge distilled into a convenient 20 minute video. Wonderful tutorial video, great project and great editing on that video.
Cutting the GPS antenna cable to the correct length actually boosts signal strength quite a bit! It also is not that hard to terminate the cut cable. Nice video!
I plan on building one of these soon. I'm very excited! Thank you for making this project possible as well as making it open source. I wish you the best of luck on your endeavors.
For such an early stage project the production value is crazy good
Came here to say the same! I'm only about 3 min in but the snap release animation is a great touch!
Looks great. I'm trying to keep myself from immediately jumping into building one, but hopefully soon 😊
If you can even find Raspberry Pi’s
Hi Clemens. Many thanks for uploading this second video of your project. I appreciate it a lot 😎👌
I have been dying for someone to start a project like this. Keep up the great work man!
Awesome work and great project, cant wait for more info!!
Thanks!!
I was looking into building a similar project. It looks like you are a few steps ahead! Great job. Subscribed!
Outstanding project and very well described. Thank you for contributing.
Wow!
What a great project!!!
I am thinking to build one for my 2500m² garden here in the north of Austria.
Thank you for your work!
Loce to see more!!!
Aaaaawesome! Thanks for the detailed tutorial. Became a Patreon. You deserve it. Totally!
Excellent work! Good luck with the channel, really enjoyed the process you described :)
Omg omg omg!!! This is awesome! I want MORE! finally there's someone capable taking control!
I've decided to build one myself. I'm still evaluating what platform I want to base it off of, but your project is giving me great ideas and things to consider
Subbed for future videos, great that you're doing a step by step build vid. Thanks for all your efforts
This is a fantastic project. Great work!
Fantastic video! I can't wait for chip prices to get a little better, I want to try this so bad!
Wow! Amazing done! Looking forward to see more vidoes! 🙌🇩🇰
Tip: DO NOT twist the wire when you crimp the JST connectors - as you crimp, it cuts the strands if they are not parallel to the connector lugs.
This is relevant for all types of crimped connectors. Explains why I've had so many problems with bad crimps when making stepper motor connectors.
@@bogmaerke Yes, me the same, until Big Clive pointed it out! I wondered why my crimps were falling apart!
Thank you. I now know why lol. Makes sense now that I think about it.
I buy them in a kit with precrimped wires on amazon nowadays
@@embededfabrication4482 Good idea - makes it much easier!
I've been thinking about this for years now, so excited that someone did it!
Sooner or later, I will build my own.
The thing with the USB cable makes sense: Red and black are 5V and ground respectively, and white and green are the two data wires. Essentially, you made the USB equivalent to an RS232 nullmodem cable.
Also, if you can, I would recommend putting cards to the assembly videos at the end of the original viral one.
Furthermore, your channels main page is pretty empty, maybe you should also do something about that.
Nice project! Well done!
amazing job man, i hope to see more of this project, i would like to do it too.
This project is GREAT!!
I would love to see the continuation of these series!
There is plenty of compliment in the comments here, but I will add one more - this was beautiful! I loved every second of the video. Well done!
looks super simple! cant wait till the control board is available. Yardforce will be up in sales because of this mod
Einfach nur geil! Wir warten schon ewig auf sowas!
Ich warte noch ein bisschen dann will ich das Projekt nachbauen. Super bitte weiter so. Bin gespannt auf die ersten Tests.
Looks amazing. I will very likely give this a shot once I get a bit of time. Just hope the robot doesn't go out of stock by that time.
Well done on your project. We are looking for a robotic mower that can do stripes but it also has to be able to climb a bank at least 40 degrees maybe more. Hope your project goes well. All the best.
Hi Clemens,
Nice project, i'm really lookin forward to build one myself!
Super cool ;-)
Cheers
Evel
Yup! This is a great project. I think the robot mower companies will take notice as you go through R&D.
A huge work! thanks for share.
Hello from Australia!! I am keen to start the build myself also. I own a hardware store that stocks yardforce items. I also have my own workshop at home that has a large scale 3d printer. CNC router. Lathe and laser cutter. I'm keen to have a go.
Good Job Clemens!
Verry Cool Project👍
You're doing what robot mower manufacturers should have figured out long ago. I'll definitely be keeping track of your progress. Getting a house on 1.5 acres of land and I've decided to go with a robot mower. Just too bad your project isn't ready to be sold as a kit yet. Looks like I'll have to settle for whatever is for sale until this is ready.
Looks Great
amazing... great job!
Greetings from NZ. Awesome project.
Great project!! Greetings from Germany🌝
Brilliant! Gotta build one when I get a house 😄
Finally a mower that mows in straight lines!!
I am very interested in this. I wasn't even aware of the RTKGPS stuff until your last video. My goal is to build my own robotic lawn mower, more or less from scratch, but the same concept. I got a motor drive assembly and batteries from an old shopping scooter, so now I need to build a chassis and steering assembly with a mowing deck. I've been considering trailer attachments for things like fertilizer and weed spray so it will apply more accurately (Not using a spreader, but using a dropper instead).
Cool project
Your first thumbnail was very very good!
I am so sad I did not look ind to this last year, I was 100% on board on making one and help the debugging effort, I am actually right now looking in to build LARGE area mowers with robot vision, gps ect. and fleet mowing for way less what is on the market today, becorse a lawnmover is not suppose to cost more than a Vw Golf 😂😅 but I am very interested in finding the latest videos on this 😁😊
Super interesting. My yard is about 1600m^2. Most robomowers are too small for that. I’m converting a 21” electric mower, with drive wheels, and may apply your electronics and software to the system.
Nice Job!
Ein geniales Projekt
Great job! I would like to integrate this with an old Robomow RL2000, which is basically indestructable and capable of mowing a much larger area.
I have on old Rl2000 as well. Not sure what is working and whats not. Do you plan do throw all oryginal robomow electronics away and leave just motors with body?
I look very much forward to the next episodes as this project matures. I would love to see a hedgehog avoidance addon! Then maybee I finally can convince my wife on getting a automatic mower.
Wish you luck. Desaign is good, wish you to start crowdfunding soon, coz on that product it would be posible to build nice company like Prusalab :)
Interesting project. Unfortunatly my garden has two levels (bout 80cm height difference) and only a stair between them... Else this would be a nice project to rebuild.
3 hours ago I walked out of the bathroom, after a long thinking session on the toilet. I thought to myself, "Why don't I make myself a robotic lawn mower?" And here this video was suggested to me. I didn't do anything about the idea other than think about it. How uncanny.
this is awesome
Great project, cool idea. But as you said, much money, much time
I will follow your channel for sure but probably don’t start it myself
Sauber! Ich bin angefixt. Tolles Projekt und hab gerade nix anderes auf der Werkbank...🤔😉
If Yardforce were smart, they would embrace open source by making an OpenMower line of their Classic 500 that is preconfigured with everything in the video.
Hallo! Habe den Mäher schon bestellt und bin gespannt wie sich das Projekt entwickelt! Das ganze hat viel Potential! Weiter so!
Bin gespannt ob’s dir Platinen auch zu kaufen gibt oder man mal ne sammebestellung aufgeben kann mit den Source Daten 👌🏻
Nice project! Did you design the mainboard electronics yourself? And what motor driver boards do you use?
I was very excited to see the first video popup. The only drawback is that I'm in the US. There basically seems to be no options as far as cheap robot mowers to convert. :\
Worx has US sellers.
@@CncObsession None that come close to price compared to what the official project uses. The project is based off of a mower that would cost about $400. I'm only seeing Worx mowers here in the US that cost $1000 and up.
US yards are larger, so I’m looking into converting a 21” electric to drive motors and autonomy.
I build drones for a hobby. I have full intentions on building this. If you would like I can also make videos but I need to find a cheaper base here in the US
I am so interested in this. I'm in America though so getting that mower might be a pain. Can't wait to see where it goes.
Amazon Germany will deliver it to the US, total cost currently about $550.
This is really great. I am looking forward to having a bit of fun with this over the summer. My yard is 3 acres though, how do you think that will impact the project? Time of course, but what about connectivity? Does the robot need wifi access for the duration? Great work by the way. I am following your progress closely.
I have been looking for a project like this for over a year and just stumbled into "open mowers". Your project looks great! Coming from an old time CNC programming background, I found it puzzling why there were no commercial vendor implementing a back and forth mowing pattern with in a virtual boundary, with avoidance areas. Your Project is good stuff. I eagerly await a plug and play version as I have zero electronic hardware skills, limited software skills, but many mechanical skills (retired Mechanical Engineer). Being Old and Slow could you direct me to a BOM so I can figure costs and start figuring out haw I can build one??
Wow, nice project. I don't know if you could use robot vacuum software (like Valetudo) for some functionality. They essentially do the same just instead of sucking the mower cuts. ;)
Super. Jeep going..
That's awesome. Gives me hope I can bring new life to my Robomow when its board finally dies.
I got a Grizzly MR1000 where i guess the board is fucked. I get a reboot and it doesn't detect that the power button is turned on anymore.
Maybe I'll one day get the mood and try this mod there. :) Amazing job!
great project! congrats! I would also like to ask you why nobody uses a lidar, like the ones from vacuum cleaners
This is awesome and I would love to build one but unfortunately the only compatible mower that will work with Openmower is the one featured, the Yard Force Classic 500 which you cannot seem to buy in the united states for some reason. Even so, thank you for all your work on this.
this is so inspiring
I have built an RC controlled mower which can utilize this cool project and make it automatic.
Really cool idea! But the thought of robots with spinning blades running around kinda terrifies me 😅
Love this project!
Already 4 years ago I searched for a DIY solution, but none came out.
I've got >4000m2 of land and steep inclination (40-60 degrees) that I need to mow by foot.
If I build a mower able to drive into my land, is this a feseable solution to automate it?
None of the commercial solution are able to drive with these inclination and I do not think it is feasible to surround the land with a 500m long wire so I need a GPS solution
This looks fab! What is the battery life like?
I maintain a large grounds and this could be an awesome solution to save some of my time and electrifying the process. Do you think the battery could be replaced with a larger one too?
This is brilliant. I'm looking at a similar project. I need to build an unmanned gritting machine. Obviously it's.goingnto need to carry significantly more weight due to the grit salt and batteries. But I was worried about developing the software. Would it be possible to have the system triggered by temperature? So if the team drops to say -1c it starts the cycle?
I love this project sooo much. We have a classic robotic mower, and this cable is just horror...
Does your robot also dynamically avoid hitter obstacles?
Great 👍
@ Clemens, is there any benefice in performance or lower power to use Ubuntu for the Pi4 OS instead of Raspian ? What motivates this choice ? Thanks ! Fantastic work !
Excellent Work !!!! How much money need to be spent for all the parts incl. docking and external GPS?
Hi, it's fantastic. Can I ask how many square meters is suitable? Do you think it is possible to upgrade the double-battery for example?
Would be really nice to 3D print one from scratch! (not waterproof tho) Design could be iterated and improved at the speed of the internet
Your work is absolutely terrific! For the time being I have just subscribed to all your updates, but I believe that what you're doing has great potential. I can't help a lot with with the hardware part of things, I know very little about electronics, but I have created and contributed to HomeAssistant integration and if you want some help creating a integration for this project I could help with that. I think that the target people for this kind of DIY projects and the kind of people who use home assistant might intersect quite a bit, so I think that having both speak to each other could be a good way of getting even more attention to this project, and hopefully patreons.
I only have two questions. Have you investigated how many changes this project would require to work on the worx landroid lineup? And the second one, since this project uses an ordered mowing path instead of bouncing randomly, have you observed that the lawn area that the robot can mow is significanly bigger than with the random algorithm or the (probably) greater power consumption makes things even? From where I stand, I have the feeling that following an structured pattern leads to a low more mowing capacity.
Omg, did u said home assistant integration?
Completely agree, there should definitely be a Home Assistant integration!
You'll never get a response this is some kind of distraction technique
This looks pretty similar to a Tango. I wonder how feasible it would be to operate a JD tango with this?
Looks great, but it doesn't seem that Yard Force is available in the US. Is it offered here under a different brand name?
This project has inspired me to create my own robotic lawnmower. I wonder if anyone has implemented an inductance charger rather than a physical contact connection?
Hi Clemens
I am amazed with your design and skill
Where can I buy the main board?
Do You make use of RTK for accuracy?
I want to also try a project like this. Thank You
you could make it safer as well by using an automatically fed strimmer like head instead of the blades. as they sheer when they hit something hard.
Very cool how can we do this to a different automower, we cant get that one in the usa?
Wow! This video, as well as the first video, are extremely helpful and informative! Thank you for everything you do! This company called "botbot robots" are selling something like this, id love to know what you think.
summer project, go ;)
This is goooooooooood
Respect for your work but there is a reason why other robot mowers use that chaotic pattern. Since they are running several times a week (on my lawn daily) they create noticable tracks if they run the same way every time. My neighbour has such track patterns on his lawn. Can't post photos here but it really looks dumb.