IJSTE - International Journal of Science Technology & Engineering | Volume 3 | Issue 12 | June 2017

ISSN (online): 2349-784X

Automatic Solar Grass Cutter

Mrs. Melba D’Souza Ms. Vaidhavi B. Naik
Assistant Professor UG Student
Department of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering Department of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering
Don Bosco College of Engineering, India Don Bosco College of Engineering, India

Ms. Rucha V Bicholkar

UG Student
Department of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering
Don Bosco College of Engineering, India

Abstract
Presently, manually handled device is commonly used for cutting the grass over the field which creates pollution and loss of energy.
.The wireless grass cutter system puts forth an automated lawn mower mechanism. This will reduce the effort required for cutting
grass in the lawns and solar power used will help to contribute in lowering pollution. The robotic vehicle is equipped with a grass
cutter blade that allows for grass cutting at high RPM. The system has a smart functionality that allows it to cover the complete
area of a lawn or garden by detecting corners using ultrasonic sensor and moving in a raster manner in order to cover the entire
area. This efficient system uses an Arduino Mega microcontroller in order to achieve this functionality. The Arduino will act as
the brain of the project which will send commands to the grass cutter. It also controls the movement of motors which help for the
movement of the cutter.
Keywords: Arduino Mega, DC Motor, LM2596 ADJ, Grass Cutter and Solar Energy
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I. INTRODUCTION

In the time where technology is merging with environmental awareness, consumers are looking for ways to contribute to the relief
of their own carbon footprints. Pollution is manmade and can be seen in our own daily lives, more specifically in our own homes.
This project of a solar powered automatic grass cutter will relieve the consumer from mowing their own lawns and will reduce
both environmental and noise pollution. This design is meant to be an alternate green option to the popular and environmentally
hazardous gas powered lawn mower.
The system uses an Arduino Mega microcontroller, Battery, DC motors, Ultrasonic sensor, Accelerometer sensor and Solar
panel. The main source of power is the solar panel which is used to charge the lithium ion battery. The battery provides the power
supply to the Arduino. The DC motors and the sensors are interfaced with the Arduino. The Ultrasonic sensor is an obstacle
detection sensor. It detects any obstacle present in that particular range. The Accelerometer sensor is a lifting detection sensor. It
stops the working if the vehicle is above the ground. The DC motors are used to move the grass cutter and also rotate the cutting
blade. Depending upon the input to the sensor the Arduino controls the grass cutter.

Fig. 1: Block Diagram for Solar Grass Cutter

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The sensors get its supply voltage from the Arduino Mega to detect obstacle and lift. The overview of the entire system is shown
in Fig. 1.

II. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

Arduino Mega
The brain of the system is Arduino Mega. The Fig. 2 shows Arduino Mega. Arduino Mega is a microcontroller board based on
ATmega 2560. It has 54 digital input/output pins of which 14 can be used as PWM outputs, 16 analog input pins, a 16 MHZ crystal
oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support the
microcontroller, simply connect it to a computer with a USB cable or power it with a AC to DC adaptor or battery to get started.
The Mega 2650 board is compatible with more shields designed for the Uno and the former boards Duemilanove or Diecimil.

Fig. 2: Arduino Mega

DC Motor
Dc motor is a device that converts direct current (electrical energy) into mechanical energy. In the presented idea for grass cutter
model we have used two different type of DC motor one is low torque and the other one is high torque. The low torque DC motor
is interfaced with the rotating blade for cutting the grass and the high torque DC motor is interfaced with the wheels for moving
the grass cutter.

Fig. 3(a): Low Torque Motor Fig. 3(b): High Torque Motor

LM2596 ADJ
The LM2596 series of regulators monolithic integrated circuits that provide all the active functions for a step down (buck) switching
regulator, capable of driving a 3-A load with excellent line and load regulation. These devices are available in fixed output voltages
of 3.3V, 5V, 12V and adjustable output version. Requiring a minimum number of external components, these regulators are simple
to use and include internal frequency compensation and a fixed frequency oscillator. The LM2597 series operates at a switching
frequency of 150 kHz, thus allowing smaller sized filter components than what would be required with lower frequency switching
regulators. A standard series of inductors are available from several diff erent manufacturers optimized for use with the LM2596
series. LM2596 is a simple high efficiency step-down (buck) regulator.

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III. ALGORITHM AND FLOWCHART

Fig. 4: Algorithm and Flowchart

1) Step 1: Start
2) Step 2: Initialize Arduino.
3) Step 3: Connect the sensors.
4) Step 4: Check for sensor input.
5) Step 5: If there is an obstacle the cutter will take a u turn until there is no obstacle.
6) Step 6: Else continue mowing.
7) Step 7: If cutter is above the ground then stop.
8) Step 8: Else continue.
9) Step 9: If cutting done then stop.
10) Step 10: Else start again.
11) Step 11: End

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The project was aimed providing a simple and much efficient way for cutting the grass. The first thing for this project is to make
all the input and output ready.

Fig. 5: Circuit Implementation

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The Fig. 5 shows the structure of our project. It was implemented and works as expected and has proved to be very useful.

Fig. 6: Path followed by grass cutter

V. CONCLUSION

Robotics is very vast field which comes with different combinations of technology this helps to reduce the human effort and gives
maximum efficient output for the work, Nowadays lot of energy is wasted for mowing lawn in different areas of the world and
also takes lots of human effort for the work. So this project is a package of energy saving and time saving grass cutting machine
with minimum human monitoring and cost. It is eco-friendly mower which uses renewable source of energy. This system finds its
application where grass cutting is required to be done on large scale which is time consuming and costly in nature.

REFERENCES
[1] www.adfruit.com
[2] www.instructables.com
[3] Introduction to Robotics : Analysis, Control, Application 2nd Edition by Saeed B. Niku
[4] Robotic Technology and flexible Automation by S. R. Deb
[5] Sujendra.S and Vanita.P Smart Lawn Mover for Grass Trimming, International Journal of Science and Research, Volume 3, Issue 3, March 2014
[6] Vipul Patel,Tanvi Patil,Pratik Sarvankar,Kashif Shah, Arduino Control awn Mover, International Jounal of Scientific Research and Development, Volume 3,
Issue 11, 2016

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