There should be an option to clear the perimeter only.
I live in a region that has alot of wind. When it snows the snow continues to blow in the driveway for hours after it stops snowing. (I live in the prairies).. I have a large driveway that needs to be cleared and 80% of it does not need to be cleared after it stops snowing … Just the perimeter.. It takes about 90+ mins to clear the whole area, between charging and clearing the whole area that can take upwards of 4 hours.
It would make sense to just clear the perimeter every few hours instead of doing the entire area. have a setting where you are able to do 2-3 perimeters would make the most sense.
Thank you for your suggestion and for providing such a detailed explanation of your situation. It really helps us understand the challenges you’re facing. We see how clearing just the perimeter could be a great solution for your area, especially with the snow and wind conditions.
We’ll be sure to pass your feedback along to our app team for consideration, and we hope to implement this feature in the future.
Would putting a Sidewalk around your Area as a perimeter achieve what you are looking for? You could then schedule just the Sidewalk until you were ready to do the Area.
Doing a Sidewalk before an Area like that has the added benefit of giving Yarbo a little room to move without so much snow when it goes to clear the Area.
I would need to do several “sidewalks” next to each other.. Depending on snow conditions and wind it may only need to do 2 rounds other days it may need to do 4…
That is alot of messy work to do with the current method of setting up compared to clicking a check box and selecting how many perimeters should be done..
Not downplaying your suggestion at all as it will work.. and its a great helpful idea.. But I cannot be the only person that will have this issue and a well rounded polished product should have an allowance to do this without the workaround/hack. (I know its a new product that is still growing that is why I put it up as a suggestion.)
You’re not the first to suggest this and won’t be the last. It’s a great one and I think has enough merit that it will make the list. But, probably not until next winter.
This topic seems to have withered so I’m hoping to revive it for new users like me. Turns out that I’m in the same boat. My perimeter gets built up with snow due to wind. BUT … This is not normal fluffy or wet snow. This is the fines that get created from tumbling flakes that get broken down close to the size of table salt crystals. When they fall over your snow bank, they fall out of the wind and start to build up. This snow packs differently and is very likely to cause “track slippage”. It needs to be handled differently than freshly fallen snow and we need a software solution.
First, I’ll make sure the problem is understood:
The wind-blown snow is made up of fine crystals and acts like a surface of marbles when it gets disturbed
It has structure. This is the snow that igloos are made out of and can be cut with a saw to form blocks. Not strong blocks, but, just strong enough. When Yarbie runs a perimeter pass at the start of a job, it can get pinned at a turn point. It can also get pinned if it gets knocked off the target path and tries to re-orient itself. Even 2-3 inches of this stuff can overpower the turning power (on the fines just disturbed - see point 1!). But when it’s 10“ or 14”, we have a real problem. The snow becomes a straight jacket and Yarbie repeatedly gets stuck.
So what could a solution be? How about let me have a “snow drift” setting?
This would activate a special set of behaviours.
A) paths are very tricky since they are narrow and can be filled completely with the fines. Getting deflected off course puts you into “deep old snow” and off the previously packed paths. To avoid this issue, maybe a “rocking motion” needs to be used. 4” forward, 3” back, 5” forward, 3” back. Maybe these numbers can be jiggled by me? Slow? Yes! But I’m looking for reliable.
B) area cleaning needs to start from the inside out. Let me input “start x feet from the perimeter” and have the overlap fairly small.
C) attack in straight lines and veer to the center to get away from the disturbed snow. When at a corner, pivoting is ill-advised. Instead, continue past and come back around at the new angle.
So the primary goal is to clear the snow without having me pull him out of a snow bank. We need to have him be self sufficient more often. If it takes more time, I’ll make that trade.
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