Automower Part 3: Installation and utilisation of the robot.

This is part 3 of the series “Automower”, click here to read from the “Part 1: Introduction to the Automower”.

Once you have the boundary wires and the charging stations prepared, all you have to do now is to install the little romba.

Opening and installation.

The Automower comes in a cardboard box, already pre-built, but as seen in Part 1 I recommend installing the fairway kit and to change the blades to the “endurance blades”.

To start the robot, you have to press the ON/OFF button underneath and to place it on the charging station. Using your cell phone and the application “AMC” from Husqvarna, you will be guided by the three-step installation. During the installation process you will be asked to rename the robot, and to set a new PIN code. Don’t overlook this step or it will get really difficult to find the correct robot amongst all the other robots!

The robot from the series 5XX comes with a free subscription to the Fleet Service. The fleet service is an app that can be accessed via a cell phone, tablet or web browser. I highly recommend installing the robot on both the AMC and the Fleet at the same time.

And here you go! The robots are almost ready to cut your fairways.

2. Utilisation:

Before starting anything, I highly recommend you ask your dealer to update the robots with the SpeedCut configuration. This has the effect of increasing the cutting head RPM, offering a cleaner cut.
As the 5XX series robots are screenless, everything happens in the app.

Here are the first settings you should look at:

HOC setting. Here you can alter the height from 1 to 9. To know the translation in real world HOC, you can use the chart below.
Return to station. By default, the robot will look for a guide wire for 10 mn. To make the robot more efficient you can set it to 0 and prioritize the boundary wire.
Schedule: If you are planning to use the robot on a schedule, you can access it on the AMC setting, but I recommend doing this later in the Fleet Service app.
Security: By default, the geofence is disactivated. It can be activated in the security setting.
Mower house: If you are using any sort of garage, you can activate the “garage mode”, that will ensure the robot leaves a bit of room around the charging station to reduce potential damage.

For the setting I would NOT change:

Spiral cutting: This option is possibly the strongest feature of the automower, we will return to this later. Just, leave it ON!
Eco mode: This option turns the boundary wire off when the robot is not mowing. If for any reason the robot triggers an alarm, you cannot simply re-start it, but need to bring it back to the charging station. The minimal saving from the ECO mode does not egal the disadvantages of using it.

Spiral cutting: This option is possibly the strongest feature of the automower, we will return to this later. Just, leave it ON!
Eco mode: This option turns the boundary wire off when the robot is not mowing. If for any reason the robot triggers an alarm, you cannot simply re-start it, but need to bring it back to the charging station. The minimal saving from the ECO mode does not worth the disadvantages of using it.

3. Mowing pattern:

Unlike conventional mowers which mow in stripes, the Automowers are mowing in a random/chaotic pattern. This specific pattern ensures there is no place growing quicker than another. If this is the case, a sensor in the cutting head will sense a difference in resistance and will tell the robot to perform a spiral cut. The spiral can be up to 6 meters (20fts) wide. As the mower is cutting, it is continually updating 2D maps of the growth, and will prioritize areas with faster growth, with or without the spiral cut.

The picture on the left is the traditional random cut pattern, the picture on the right shows a couple of circles, the result of the spiral cut pattern. The large amount of clipping is the result of the transition from 15mm to 12.5mm, not an example of an everyday result.