Zero Turns are a real problem

[rcguymike]

Whoops, this stayed in my Drafts and never posted…
Starting a new thread, this is starting to become a bigger issue.

Had 5 more issues with zero turns this morning(Dec 3rd), this really needs a fix, the logic for smart turns in combination with how it starts a new row from the previous row and turns into it, and backing up to a known good area to try again before continuing would probably solve all of these issues. It got stuck 2 times where I was able to simply drive it out manually, and it slid out of the boundary once(definitely not 5’ out of the boundary though). Click for album:

[rgloverii]

With this being a new thread, can you describe the problems you are experiencing with zero turns again?

[bryan.wheeler]

Or he could just link the post(s) where he already describes it.

[rgloverii]

Good point.

[rcguymike]

I was hoping the pictures would speak for themselves😅

[rgloverii]

Sorry, I didn’t realize the thumbnail was a link. Looking now.

[ben.karrow]

In addition -I feel like if it did 2 parameter laps. (Toggle 1 lap 2 Laps) then do parallel lines. Do all your maneuvers inside the yellow box. That way you are maneuvering right in the middle of 2 parameter laps. As you reach the end a row push all the way to the edge of the map (my white lines are a little short) not the edge of the parameter lap. Then do 1 or 2 parameter laps at the end. (Toggle 1 lap 2 Laps)

[B-Mod]

Zero turns suck on a gravel based driveway. There is a base yo have to leave to not throw rocks, and that base along with zero turns gets the Yarbo stuck. I think more parameter laps would help with this.

[rcguymike]

Yeah they need a “smart corner” where it blows, backs up ~2 Yarbo lengths blows offset a little more, etc until it has room to turn. Zero turns just don’t work, both tracks are put into the physics situation where most of the friction is being supplied by surfaces with sliding friction. If both tracks activate together either forward or back and then one slows down slightly to try to turn it would eliminate so many problems. Just added 3 more photos of Yarbo getting “stuck” basically in no accumulation…so infuriating

[ben.karrow]

Agreed! The blue area for me is gravel. The yellow/green areas are a death sentence for Yarbo. Also the zero turns it creates about the red no go zone (smaller trash dumpster) it gets stuck quite a bit.

I have lengthened one zone so it isn’t churning up so much around the parameter laps it zero turns on my concrete so that helps a little. But at the end of the driveway is real tough sometimes.

[silvenz]

I reported this issue back in march… Nothing has been done about it…

They really don’t care they just want the fanboys and community to come up with workarounds instead of actually fixing the issues.

There are so many fundamental issues that are not getting addressed… There are so many Advertised features that simply do not work or are not implemented…

I would like to know what is the timeline for Yarbo to be Feature Complete as advertised.

[pvanmuyden]

I had a nice packed snow base and the zero turns destroyed it. The gravel is now exposed and I can’t use Yarbo anymore. I’ve attached two images with the first one the track of the whole map area and the second one track of a zero turn.

This can be all avoided if we have a simple tool to draw our own map areas and tracks to follow. We would lose all wars if our army tanks turn like Yarbo.

Maybe reduce the number of turns and allow overlaps of tracks. Turning is very slow. In this example a spiral with 90 degree turns instead of 180 degree turns would have been much more efficient.

[Yarbo-Forum]

Hi there, thanks for taking the time to share these details.

I’ll pass this feedback along to our product team for review and consideration. Your observations about the zero-turn behavior and suggested improvements are very helpful for identifying where the experience can be improved.

We appreciate you bringing this to our attention.

[silvenz]

This answer is the reason why NO ONE should be recomending yarbo and the company will fail.

@Yarbo-Forum

I’ll pass this feedback along to our product team for review and consideration.

We will Consider fixing a problem that is preventing you from using our device.

This type of thing should have been addressed but your product testing is horrible not to pick things up… any engineer that sees how yarbo turns will see that it is problematic. zero turns in any amount of snow turn the snowblower into a snow plow when its trying to do a zero turn and if it doesn’t have enough grip to actually push the snow away from the sides of the snow blower It will get stuck and in the mean time the track(s) and spinning digging through any packed snow and with the minimal ground clearance needed for the wireless charger it gets hung up on the belly of the core unit and needs to be moved by hand…

[rcguymike]

That’s a little extreme…if they would just be up front that currently the limitations are for light snowfall, and explain current work-arounds to temper expectations it would still be a useful product. It would save people a lot of trial and error headaches if things were more transparent. Start development of a deep snow mode, improve traction control algorithms, etc, etc. They have motor current/force feedback, IMU’s, etc, they should have better ways of detecting slippage. Currently the easiest fix I see is to have areas where you tell it to be much more sensitive to track slippage and stop and alert us rather than dig a hole. Area’s such as concrete/asphalt zero turns can be workable, just not with deep snow, which they already suggest not to let it get more than a few inches deep…but for a lot of us I don’t think that’s very practical. The unit at least has the hardware capabilities to be really really good, we just need better communication on the software plans, within reason

[B-Mod]

They have had years to figure this out. And for sure they had enough feedback last spring to do something all summer long. But nope, same issues……

[silvenz]

Look at the history of the company…. and the marketing.

“Developing the world’s first robotic snow blower was challenging. Without prior experience in sound engineering or an established supply chain, we designed every component from scratch. Through countless experiments, bug fixes, and rigorous field testing across various snowy landscapes and terrains, we painstakingly crafted the Yarbo Snow Blower.”

The key phrase.. “Developing the world’s first robotic snow blower was challenging.” WAS… Its no longer in development… They are not developing it anymore.

“rigorous field testing across various snowy landscapes and terrains” Rigorous field testing? They didn’t watch it turn in anything more than light snowfall to observe that a zero turn turns the sides of the snowblower into snowplows? That is pretty basic and easy to see it is not going to work well in anything but very light snow..

The company was founded in 2015 as Snowbot… thats 10 years of “development” to not notice zero turns in anything but very light snow is a bad design. Yes it can be corrected via software… But will it?

As you can see by the official Yarbo Response of “I’ll pass this feedback along to our product team for review and consideration.”

Where is the dedication they “Brag” about? We will consider?

This really sums up how they look at things.

“Our co-creation journey with users is fueled by their feedback, driving our team to engage passionately through online messages and onsite visits. Their insights and suggestions are invaluable and inspiring and form the foundation for our innovative products. In essence, our users are our product managers in the making.”

Just read that.. Its just marketing…

Over promise.. Under deliver… Make more Sales… That is the yarbo motto

I regret my purchase… I am not happy with it nor the support… Support lies… the product is not feature complete… They keep cranking out new modules to increase sales while ignoring problems with the existing modules..

I wish i had one that would catch on fire so I could file an insurance claim on it and be done with it instead of stuck with it.

[B-Mod]

Wanna talk about chute aiming next?

[silvenz]

don’t even get me started on that… There is no facility to make Do not blow zones… So every time It goes out I cross my fingers that a rock will not hit the windshield cars or through the window on the house ect…

[rcguymike]

They probably have a small development team and limited resources. During the summer they were very focused on the trimer and mower Pro launch. They were able to implement quite a few software updates that prove they’re developing the software. Smart turn was a big improvement, still a lot to go, smart vision during a work plan, 2 way audio, etc, etc. Should they be further along? Maybe…but they were also seemingly overzealous on their R&D but they also cancelled some of their planned projects to redirect resources towards the current product line. These are pretty big changes that take months to have dumb meetings about repeatedly where the engineers explain it one way, and marketing/project management misinterprets it to mean something else. My feelings aren’t all that relevant as I’ve only had this device for a few months but I feel they’re heading in the right direction. I’ve had countless tickets put in but they are all being resolved, slowly but surely. Do you have tickets in? Are you updating your status’ here for everyone to help(not saying your aren’t I just haven’t looked specifically yet)? This is, IMO just barely past a beta product. If you drive it manually yourself, just like they do in all of their demos/live streams, it can do most of the things they say…but it is very opportunistic in that the conditions have to be right…unfortunately we live in a less than ideal world so they still have a lot to do to get to something good/acceptable. I haven’t seen any indication that their software development or support teams are ramping down, they are ramping up if anything and we should expect to see rapid improvements in 2-3 years.