Anyone got time to do a video call with me for help with mapping 5 yard areas, circular driveway, and about 8 sidewalks for optimal mowing, blowing, and snow blowing?
Thanks.
You can also share some details and pictures of your property here. I’m sure our helpful community members would be happy to share their suggestions and ideas on how to set up your maps.
So you can tackle that two different ways. One, map the whole driveway as one big area and create a no go zone for the island. Or, map it in a half and then create a work plan with both halves in it. You can maybe make it so that one half is the piece to get you in and out of the driveway and the other half is the less critical piece that can be secondary.
Consider approaching this slightly differently than @bryan.wheeler suggested.
NOTE 1: He is much more experienced at this than me.
My suggestion will require a bit more time initially setting up Areas, but would give the benefit of perfectly aligning all the mowing lines.
Map the entire property as one large Area. Next map the No Go Zones around trees and any landscaping you want to avoid. There is not problem with the mower thinking the pavement is grass and “mowing” over it. This way when you tell Yarbo to mow that large Area all the lines align! 
Because you will want to mow subsections independently from time to time, I would next map three or four Areas - possibly more as you know your property.
- Frontage section along the road - I can’t tell from the image if there is much turf there
- Island in your driveway - again I can’t tell from the image if there is much turf there.
- Large area to the left of your house
- The backyard and side yard around the outbuilding could be independent Areas or lumped in with #3.
You can have multiple Areas that cover the same dirt. So that isn’t a problem.
Let me stress the only(?) advantage to this involved approach is perfectly aligned mowing pattern(s). That is important to some, but if that is not important to you I’d follow @bryan.wheeler 's advice.
Note: 2: Obviously it is preferable no vehicles on the driveways when this holistic Area is being mowed. Only you know if that is a regular problem. Yes obstacle avoidance helps avoid parked vehicles, but even better to avoid potential conflicts.
NOTE 3: I recommend you give ample buffer along the river. You don’t want your Yarbo going for a swim. My Yarbo never goes out of bounds, but others have commented about that problem.
p.s. If you have a better picture(s) without shadows we can better advise you.
p.s.s. You can try to align the rows with the Route Angle setting for each Area. The problem is the Route Angle increments in 10• increments. I could get kinda close by never exact.
Here’s a better view. I don’t care about the lines and I don’t like to spend time mapping.
The blower module ran into a car a few days ago and caused about $1,000 in damage​
.I just tried mowing the area along the road and it was so thin that it got confused and saw lots of phantom obstacles and lost gps a fair amount.
For the walkways, is it better to do them as a pathway or a small work area for mowing, blowing, and snow blowing?
Thanks!
Sorry to hear about the damage. Open a ticket with support on that and note the times so they can figure out what happened. There is an obstacle avoidance setting for the blower, so make sure that’s on if not.
For mowing, gentle contact (bumper only) and creating no go zones around anything that you don’t want it to bump into is the best setup. Moderate bypass works ok in the latest hotfix but it’s not perfect. If you’re still struggling with that, submit a support ticket to have them check that out.
As for the GPS issues, is it under heavy tree cover or is it possibly losing a network connection to the DC (HaLow)? Diagnostic screenshots when it’s lost GPS in that area would be helpful to try and diagnose what’s going wrong there.
As for the walkways, a pathway is probably the best. The only downside is that you cannot add them to the work plan, so it needs to be the only way to get to an area in the work plan for that to execute. Otherwise for the mower map a dead end and the snow blower a sidewalk. I don’t think the leaf blower there’s really an option here yet.
In case you are still interested in suggestions about Area-fying your yard … I would break it into 3 or 4 Areas. I drew on your image with my suggestions. While you can easily compline Areas 1, 2, a/o 3, I would keep them separate for two reasons:
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Depending on moisture and sun exposure an Area might grow faster than others. You can mow areas more/less often.
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If you have limited time due guests arriving soon or rain forecasted later in the day, you can run a subset of Areas and not worry about particle completion or remembering a percentage when restarting the mowing. The other benefit is if you choose to mow checkerboard or diamond to reduce missed clumps of grass, you can tailor each section as needed.
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By connecting Area 4 to an adjacent Area with a narrow strip you will know exactly where the mower will potential intersect with pavement/vehicles. The dotted lines are other potential connection points that might be further away from vehicles.
Don’t forget to map some no-go zones for chunks of the driveway that can be toggled on/off where cars commonly appear. Then just toggle when needed.
@PropellerHead - I was suggesting a different approach. Never include the driveway in any Area or Pathway (except a narrow access to the island) so his Yarbo would never enter the driveway.
Exclude the Driveway vs trying to map No-Go Zones and hope no incursions occur. Does that make sense?
Thanks everyone for the help.
I also have a mammotion luba which has been handling the mowing of the grass very well.
So right now I’m using the Yarbo for mowing and blowing the driveway and the walkways. The Luba does not cut as low as the Yarbo so it’s turning out to be a good division of labor.
I divided the drive way into 3 sections so I think that will work for the driveway.
But I’m still wondering about the best strategy for the walkways. It seems like to have good coverage I would have to do 2 or 3 deadends for mowing (and blowing?) and then 2 or 3 sidewalks for the snow blower and they have to be right on top of each other for each walkway?