OK, I kinda did a “Wow!” yesterday getting Yarbo set up very quickly at my new place with NO Data Center, NO Docking Station. I needed to get mowin’ and didn’t want to sit on the riding mower!
I moved to a new home back in June, and I’ve been waiting to sell and close on my former property. Yarbo has been taking care of the bulk of the mowing at the old place while I’ve been on the riding mower here. I’d visit about once a week to check the place out and do a little spiffitizing.
We’ll (finally) be closing next week, and this past Wednesday was the last day my GF would be available before her vacation to give me a ride to the old place to get my car and the Yarbo. She helped me lift the core into my car, and it’s now here at the new place.
It was getting a bit too dark and stormy to grab the Data Center and Docking Station, so those won’t be uninstalled and brought to the new place 'til next week. I have a charger, so topping off the Yarbo’s battery won’t be a problem without the Docking Station. But can I get some mowing done without a Data Center?
YES. And it worked well.
I accessed the Yarbo using Bluetooth and turned on WiFi and Cell service in the core, and I switched the Positioning Service to NetRTK Service. This erases the map, but that’s fine – the old one is backed up and is moot anyway. NetRTK found my location, and I placed Yarbo in a spot that became the anchor point for the new map.
After I turned on NetRTK, I mapped a small test Area and told Yarbo to mow. Right out of the box it did its thing. It followed a Pathway I created back to its anchor spot when done. This was kind of a “Wow!” for me.
Then I mapped a big area…and another. Coupla Pathways. No go Zones. Yarbo mowed it no probs, pretty much straight out of the back of my car.
NetRTK FTW!
Yarbo finished up in the dark mowing three large Areas on my new property with zero GPS issues or anything else. After completing the backyard, Yarbo went to its spot, and I manually drove it into the garage to plug in the charger.
It was great not to be on the riding mower…again…to take care of the lawn. At my new place I have far too much to do, and this was a great help. I’d rather be taking the puppy to splash in the river nearby, ya know?
I’m also thankful that Yarbo could take care of my old property while it was up for sale and I wasn’t there. I’d just have to head there once a week or so to do a little clean-up. Yarbo kept it ready for showings.
The Data Center and Docking Station will be moved here in a few days. While I work out where they’re going, Yarbo can continue to mow. I will be using the Data Center and not NetRTK, as I’d like the extended HaLow connection for the lower part of my driveway without reliance on rover WiFi/Cell. I’m sure I’ll need to re-map, but that’s OK, it really didn’t take long. My new place is thankfully simple.
Now to get back to hacking two football-sized frost heaves out of the driveway so Yarbo’s snowblower can tackle those spots. And stacking firewood. And reassembling the wood stove and replacing the door gasket. And clearing the garage. And making a dump run. And taking the puppy for another splash in the river…
My Yarbo core+mower has had limited maintenance over the past few months, mostly a quick removal of grass and sticks here and there, some blades, and a few smears of track grease. The great folks at Support sent me two cameras to replace some funky ones, and I need to look into an issue others have mentioned of clicking/squeaking. It’s all stuff I’ll be able to do now that Yarbo is a minute and a half away (if I stop in the kitchen for coffee), not an hour and a half away!
Mowing at the new place looks to be under control (including a slope that laughs at the brakes in my riding mower – Yarbo did it fine!), but snowblowing will be a challenge this winter with a long driveway and paths needed to my firewood stacks on the opposite side of the house…yikes. I’ll be getting the snowblower module on there in the not too distant future to get ready for that four letter word that begins with “s”. EEK!
Very glad Yarbo was helpful taking care of my old property remotely in my absence - I didn’t worry about showing the property at any time, as the grass was always looking OK. I even created a No-go Zone remotely using the Yarbo’s camera. That was neat. Then getting the machine here and having it mapping in minutes with NetRTK…yep, “wow!”