Slip Detection For Robotic Lawn Mowers Using Loop Signals

Husqvarna AB is one of the leading producers of outdoor products such as autonomous lawn mowers. One important feature of these products is the ability toquickly respond to environmental factors such as slippy areas. A reliable slip detector is needed for this mission and many different technologies exists for detectingslip events. A common technique is to check the wheel motor current, which clearlydeviates when the lawn mower is subjected to slipping. The on-board sensors opensup for an alternative solution which utilizes the loop sensors as the main slip detector. This thesis covers the construction of a slip detection prototype which is basedon the loop sensors. In the end, Husqvarna AB was provided with a new alternativesolution, which was successfully compared to the exiting solution. It proved to bea reliable slip detector for manually induced slipping indoors, outdoor performancewere not investigated. Ultimately, the implemented prototype outperformed the existing solution in the intended environment of indoor testing