Ambrogio Robot Mower Installation - Extremely Complicated Example

I recently worked on a very complicated installation for an Ambrogio robot mower purchase that will close Spring of 2021. The customer contacted dealers of a competitive brand but was not satisfied with what he heard from those dealers. One dealer literally pushed him away, stating he did not know enough about the robots to install and support them - the customer would be on his own. Another, more competent dealer, indicated that two robots would be required. This was a scenario the customer really did not want to entertain and prompted him to reach out to us.

Here is a photo of the satellite view of the property:

The property is situated on 18 acres; thankfully only a portion will be maintained by the robot. Through numerous phone conversations, measurements on Google maps and emails, I determined that approximately 5000 feet of wire will be required to wire out flowerbeds and trees. 5000 feet is the absolute maximum limit the transmitter can support; 33% longer than competitors thanks to Ambrogio's strong transmitter and higher quality wire. Most beds have 8-10 feet between them, which is plenty of space for the robot to maneuver. The low wire-to-wire proximity is also what enables the wire length to be increased beyond the typical maximum length of 3300ft.

The grassy area to be mowed was 1.4 acres, so I settled on the L350i that is capable of 1.75 acres. It is important to "overdesign" when a property has many narrow strips of grass and many obstacles. I am also aware it is possible to add batteries to L350i, so if the robot is not keeping-up with mowing, it is an option to pursue later.

We planned to do the installation on a Friday and Saturday in late Fall. Weather was on our side, it was beautiful! About 60 degrees and sunny. Upon arrival, the customer drove me around in his golf cart so I could gain an understanding of the mowing areas, where the base will be, etc.

Planning the installation on-site took 6 hours. You read that right, 6 hours were spent on planning before our new DW45 installation machine was fired-up! Numerous areas had narrow strips of grass (such as behind certain beds, behind the garden shed and along the garage). I warned the customer that it was very unlikely the robot will find those small spaces often enough to keep the grass mowed and proposed using the "corridor" feature, which would ensure at least a 2 foot-wide strip would always be mowed. The remaining would have to be eliminated or trimmed manually.

While driving around, I had doubts - "What was I thinking??" and "How did I get myself into this one?". Well, the first answer is I am a sucker for anyone who really, really wants a robot. The second answer is I have two properties from the past using the predecessor of the L350i (L300 & L300R) that I used as a reference. 

One of these properties is proudly displayed in the banner on the Paradise Robotics web site. It is small (1/2 acre), but it has six raised beds, a shed and eight evergreens. The robot maintains it beautifully, even though it is constantly maneuvering between the beds that are only about 5 feet apart. 

The second is a property that I inherited from a different dealer who boldly sold the customer two L300R robots to maintain 7 acres with 400 trees in one of the two loops. As a conservative dealer/installer, that is a sale I would not have accepted. The L300R robot (discontinued now) was only rated at 1.5 acres. But, they were sold to yet another great customer who understood that his situation would require more maintenance and repairs. I also educated him on the need to keep the robots out of mud. He is four years-in now and happy as a clam. But he does buy more parts than other customers.

The previous experience of these two properties help me believe we will have a successful result on this one. But there was one more trick from my many years of experience I had to bring into play. Before the new SDM mowing algorithm that uses GPS, Ambrogio robot mowers used a random + spiral algorithm. It works really well but on large properties, it is necessary to trap the robot in smaller areas to ensure it completes mowing them. I decided to use this trapping technique because although SDM uses GPS, there is still a random element to the mowing algorithm. This overhead view shows the three mowing areas I decided on, the programmed areas, antennas and rapid return locations:

It worked out great that the base is located pretty close to the center, as this, coupled with the rapid return triangle across from the garden area, will dramatically shorten travel time back to the base. Travel time to the A4 area is the longest and will require at least 30 minutes. It will not surprise me if mowing well into the wee hours of the morning will be required, but my initial idea is to try the schedule with the most desirable hours to avoid as much dew and wet grass as possible. 

I chose two work-times per day so the robot will select which area to visit 14 times per week, guaranteed. Alternatively, I could have chosen one large work-time per day and allowed the robot to go back to the base when the battery was fully depleted, but due to the very long wire, I felt it was safer to control the times myself; or the robot might come out, mow for a very short time and go back; which would be a lot of wear and tear for not much benefit. For the customer, having known times the robot is in the base would be helpful for the ongoing yardwork and projects he typically does. 

Regarding which areas to mow when, I decided it is best to let the robot be the genius on that front, it will be programmed to work on all areas each day, but will visit only two areas per day (due to the two work times). Likely I will not make better decisions than the robot because the robot has far more data about grass growth than I ever will!

After spending extensive time planning, we started laying the wire. Thankfully the customer provided some extra helping hands because as time goes on, it is more and more difficult for me to do installations by myself (a little clue about my age here...). The first day, about 10% of the wire was laid. A little time was lost due to making a wrong turn early-on (oops!), but that is not very outrageous given the maze this property is! By the end of the second day, although the wire was installed and there were no breaks, the wire ends were not yet spliced and the rapid return triangle and antennas were not yet installed - so I decided to stay a third day.

The third day, the weather made for a very difficult time. It was in the high 40s, but the wind started picking-up around noon and blew very hard the remainder of the day. I am so glad I wore many layers of clothes as well as my long down coat. I was toasty warm and sweating. Only a portion of the testing was completed the third day. (I used our 4.0 demo unit for testing since the robot purchase will be completed in Spring., it is almost the same size as the L350i and has the same rubber tires). 

I decided to come back the next week (it's a 3 hour drive, I drove there and back in one day). Bad news on this trip, though - unfortunately the wire broke somewhere and I didn't have my break-finder with me. At this point, the weather is no longer on our side and it will be necessary to wait until Spring to complete some minor installation changes and testing.

Here is a slideshow that shows the ground-level photos for each area:

The customer commented that no one in his small town believes the robot will keep-up. And he said several times, "If Ambrogio can do my property, it can do **anyone's** property!". My goal is to prove him right!

Our Ambrogio robot mower dealer network is growing in the five states of our territory: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio & Wisconsin. Many rural areas are still in need of dealers. In a case such as this, when there is no dealer nearby and the installation is too complicated for DIY, we act as the dealer and do the installation ourselves. If we had a dealer in close enough proximity and the dealer was fully trained and conscientious with important technical details, then our role would as a coach - to assist the dealer in achieving a successful installation by providing technical information and planning advice. We look forward to having more dealers join our network!

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