Completed a full mechanical test run of the remote operated yard tug over the weekend. After manually mowing the perimeter of the yard I powered up the unit (ROmow-X, as it is still experimental) and hitched the reel mower to it, then used it to mow the rest of the lawn. Note to self: people are not used to seeing something like ROmow scooting around the yard; damn near had a traffic accident right in front of the house. Eyes on the road, folks.

Cut quality exceeds my expectations. The reel mower's weight, combined with the roller bar that's at the rear and speed of ROmow, all add up to a clean cut with no tire depressions left behind. Looks like a putting green. Shit yeah.

Took longer than I expected, but I chalk that up to developing new cutting routes as the job progressed. Have to keep the unit moving in order to have the reel spin at the right RPM, so doing sharp 180 turns is out; gradual sweeping turns is the way to go.

Did notice that the battery drain on the #1 battery (there are two linked in series for 24V) was a lot higher than #2. I attribute that to the always-on cooling fan that I've installed into the electronics bay. That fan is powered off the #1 battery. I'll have to look into a smaller, separate battery for the fan, or break the job into different days for different parts of the yard (front yard and back yard) to keep the effect of battery drain to a minimum.

Presently waiting for my Li-Pos to arrive for the little 5.8GHz 200mW camera system that will live on the roll bar over the drive motors. Once installed and debugged (there's always debugging with this stuff) I should be able to run ROmow-X remotely from inside the house, driving it like a little tank through my TV.

Typical weekend. Even the dog is used to it by now.