Hi Micke—thanks for the question. In the current PPVS version, the camera isn’t used; it relies on the IMU and odometry. VIO is planned for the next version, and we expect it to be a significant improvement.
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I noticed the install pushed through so I watched Yarbo mow for 20 minutes in the new mode on a small patch (our simplest). It’s still Yarbo but it’s a marked improvement on turf wear.
Yarbo seems to slow down before a three point turn and the three point turn often completes in three points. That’s a marked improvement and makes Yarbo feel more like a real product.
I counted only 11 zero point turns in the route changes over 27 direction changes (full circles counted as 2). That sounds like a lot but it’s way better than what it did before! The border (2 perimeters) took another 12 zero point turns for a total of 23. Either cadlse, 11/27 is still too high. A new piece of turf got torn, but it’s a big improvement nonetheless and it feels much better. Thank you dev team!
Yarbo still drove back and forth 10 times on a single 90 degree corner, no big change there I suppose.
No go zones were mowed around as Yarbo encountered them, making for a marked improvement on travel distance. That may be the biggest improvement.
In this specific mow, Yarbo left more space between the wall (half a mower width to a full mower width) and more space around the no go zones, but that may just be this specific run.
The pathway back was still full of zero point turns so expect some turf damage wherever Yarbo travels.
Great improvement! There’s the tiny light at the end of the tunnel. Based on this single mow, we just need visual obstacle detection, smooth turns, closer edge mowing, less zero point turns, and not missing patches for a first beta release of Yarbo M1.
Light!
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Hopefully Yarbo is maturing with the new influx of investor cash and the mowing development continues during the non-mowing season. I’d love to pop out in early spring with even bigger mowing improvements vs 100% of the focus be on the snow blower all through late fall and winter.
Thank you for postering this, it’s helpful for new people like me.
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Yeah, I’m not pleased with this update. Woke up this morning and it seems I got the update.
Could not find our yarbo. It thought it went to charge but the drift was huge and was in the middle of another section of yard. Looks like it went through a tree, that is in a no go zone but it is way off, cracked the tip of one antenna. Also cracked a piece of track cover on side when it must have tried to back up.
Could only connect to Bluetooth to get it charge and correct the drift. Tried to let it run and it was already drifting after 5 to 10 mins.
Brought back to charge, turned off the ppv after reading this post, correct the drift and now it just sits in the yard waiting for gps signal. Seems like I’m going to have to use ppv now.
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submit a ticket with times that the events occurred. You shouldn’t see much drift, it will deviate some the further it goes without GPS. But, it only needs good GPS for a few seconds to recalibrate and reset DR. If you are experiencing a lot of drift, they may be able to recalibrate your IMU. You can also go into settings and Yarbo Lab and adjust the length of travel without GPS down. This should help limit the drift in the interim, but still take advantage of the PPVS. Start small and adjust up in small increments. You can actually do this while it is waiting for GPS if you know it’s in a safe area. As you increment the setting forward, it will start moving again until it hits the new threshold.
I would also be careful since the antenna is damaged, as that could be a factor in some of your issues.
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Yes, it was deleting the plan as well when you deleted anything from that plan.
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I don’t love the update either, but I can understand the motivation. It is essentially for those with spotty GPS and those of us who have great GPS in 95% of the yard have to regroup.
But I discovered something nice, that can help fine tune this. You can go into the “Yarbo Lab” settings while work is running. It goes something like this:
- Everything in Yarbo Lab set to 0, plan begins
- Yarbo finds a GPS trouble spot and waits
- You go into Yarbo Lab and if Yarbo is in the perimeter, you can increase the “Boundary Travel Distance” setting little by little until Yarbo starts back up again, which is almost immediate. Then you get a feel for how many feet you have between “GPS Good” spots.
- Or if Yarbo is stopped in the area portion, you increase the “In Area Travel Distance” until Yarbo starts back up again. In the end, you find a number that keeps Yarbo working the whole time.
- By adjusting these parameters, you can get it to basically how it was working before, or much better if you had GPS issues.
The problem is that many of us have areas that absolutely must be zero, no Dead Reckoning. And we also have areas that are covered in trees, where we can loosen the restrictions a bit. So while I think I can find a setting that will work for all my areas, I doubt this will be the case for everyone. I think these lab settings (which are great additions by the way) should be area specific.
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I would like to see this setup where you can paint a section within an area and specify parameters. In my front yard next to the street I don’t want it to wander at all. But next to the house it sometimes loses GPS so I would want it there.
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But isn’t there a way to deactivate completely? I mean, if we are happy with our coverage, why make things worse? There must be a on/off toggle?
I can’t test myself… I’m still waiting for the update…
You can disable it but it’s all or nothing.
wow on paper this is a highly needed update that addresses many concerns. i’m waiting for a cutting disc replacement before i can try it though, how are people liking it? lmk if any of you 3d print discs.
I really like the update. Has made a significant improvement in my mowing times not being paused due to waiting for GPS. Push notifications for errors and event log history is also fantastic. Lots of good stuff in this update. Only thing I don’t like is the dynamic map orientation based on which way the rover is facing. That needs to go back to the old way or be optional.
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You’re not the first person I heard complain about this and that would drive me nuts. I have both updates and have not experienced this behavior. My map always points the same direction unless I manually rotate the map, in which case it keeps that orientation. Is this an iOS vs Android issue? I am running on Android. Maybe my app is not working properly, which in this case would be a good thing.
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I’ve heard both iOS and Android people complain about it. Are you on app 3.16.0?
Yes, I got the firmware update the day it was released and then manually updated the app.
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If you need discs that are shipped quickly, bourbonyarbo.com Alan is an authorized Dealer and a stand up guy. He ships quick and has them currently in stock.
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I am jealous then. Must be a glitch, just not sure who has it.
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Yes and no. You can disable the Yarbo Lab features, but then in areas where Yarbo used to continue with (for example) medium quality GPS, it will sit, and sit, and wait, and wait, and maybe it will continue when the GPS gets good. You can’t AFAIK go back to the way it would continue with this medium quality GPS.
That being said, I think if you tweak the settings, you can mimic the old behavior, where Yarbo will continue for x number of feet with medium GPS until it gets good GPS again. But the one problem with this is that the setting must be for all areas and not just some of them.
The other potential problem with this is that these settings also work for bad GPS, and no GPS situations. And while the old version would not continue in these situations, the new software will. So while I’m not saying this Dead Reckoning is a bad idea, I’m saying you may have to be more careful with it. You can essentially “allow” Yarbo to drive for hundreds of feet with no GPS signal at all…so 
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Mine’s defaulting the map orientation to the core heading as well. It’s happening in both iOS and BlueStacks Android. Was this a feature request at some point, or did they just decide to change it?
I’d be happy with North up or it remembering my chosen orientation.
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The loss of Route Rotation with Adaptive is kind of a non-starter. I can’t have it cutting the same direction every time. What am I missing here?
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