I just got my Yarbo and was thinking about making a door in the fence for it… I haven’t done any testing but figured I would ask here first. Will Yarbo push open a spring loaded door of some type (a saloon style door for example) while on a path, or will it stop detecting an obstruction?
If it will stop at a door, will it go through an open cutout it’s size in the fence? (no door or an automatic door)? Or to put it another way, will it go under something on the path?
Thanks in advance.
It would depend on your obstacle avoidance settings. The bumper if hit would trigger a collision alert and then it would try and avoid and start turning side to side. Additionally, you have the 3 antennas you need to be concerned with. Best thing I would recommend would be a powered gate with some type of NFC or bluetooth tag that would trigger the opening when close. I just prop open my gates when it’s mowing and close them when it’s done. It’s a minor inconvenience, especially when the dogs need to go out. But, it works for now. I know they are getting tons of requests for a native solution. Ken mentioned once that they were working on a solution. Looking forward to see what they come up with.
Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out!
Regarding your question, unfortunately, Yarbo won’t be able to push open a spring-loaded door, such as a saloon-style door. Based on your description, I understand that the door is on the pathway Yarbo needs to take to reach its work area, correct?
Yarbo uses three primary methods to detect and bypass obstacles: cameras, ultrasonic sensors, and bumpers. When on the pathway, Yarbo currently relies solely on the bumpers for obstacle detection. If the bumper comes into contact with the door, the system will recognize it as an obstacle, and Yarbo will attempt to bypass it by moving backward and adjusting its angle. After several failed attempts, it will notify you. Unfortunately, Yarbo won’t be able to pass through the door in this scenario.
Regarding the open cutout, if the bumpers don’t detect anything in the pathway, Yarbo should be able to pass through the cutout without issue. However, it’s important to ensure that there is enough space for Yarbo to fit through, taking into account the size of Yarbo. Additionally, since Yarbo has three antennas extending from the rover, the height of the cutout should be sufficient to avoid any potential damage to the antennas. It’s recommended to leave at least 30cm of buffer zone on the left, right, and upper sides.
In future updates, there is possibility that we incorporate camera-based obstacle detection into the pathway’s obstacle bypass system. If you plan to use the cutout method, you might also want to set that area as a “no-vision” zone, which would disable the camera obstacle detection and help avoid potential issues.
You might also want to consider the gate options mentioned by Bryan – it could be a great solution!
Perfect, thank you for the clarification on how it works. I’m thinking I could still make the door work as long as long as another part of the mower other than the bumper pushes it open. I may start with a cutout and go from there.
Great suggestions, I was thinking along the same lines of making it automatic but figured a bumper system would be simpler if it would work.
At present I don’t have any pets in the fence so all good there… would love for Yarbo to come out with a solution though, a few of the other smart mowers have compatible doors that unlock just for the mower.
I tested my mower for the first time today and noticed that it easily drives into objects when reversing. (yarbo even drove up into a tree) Can I fine-tune the camera settings to prevent this in the future?
Rear cameras are not currently enabled for obstacle avoidance and Yarbo has a big butt and likes to turn and back over the mapped area border line pretty routinely. They have an adjust area inward option AKA a safety buffer. You can increase that or drop a no go zone beside the border of any where that will be an issue if it does back over the mapped line. It’s incovenient, I know and they really need to address this ASAP!