GET THE LATEST NEWS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTY IN YOUR INBOX SIGN UP Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Meet Gloucestershire's new Lawnmower Man who's built himself a robot lawnmower with parts from an old pram, laptop and electric drill.

Howard Taylor's creation has captured the imagination of the internet and has followed in the footsteps of Stroud’s original Lawnmower Man, Edwin Budding.

When Howard decided that there were better ways to spend a sunny afternoon than mowing his lawn, he decided to create his own robot lawnmower.

It’s almost 200 years since Stroud engineer Edwin Budding invented the lawnmower, and now fanatic Howard has created a 21 century version – using parts from a pram, electric drill and a laptop.

Having recently renovated an older property and laying a new lawn in the garden, Howard set about inventing his own robot lawnmower and video recording each aspect of the process.

The 30 instalments on his Youtube channel have attracted an international following who have offered tips and advice, and followed Howard’s progress.

Howard has a background in engineering and works in international sales for Renishaw, so decided to put his skills to use, building his own robot lawnmower and documenting the process.

“I started with simply bolting wood together, and then developed the computer control system.

“The idea was a ‘just for fun’ project.”

But he admits it became a bigger project than he anticipated at the start.

“It has actually now cut the lawn!”

His Robot lawnmower has cost around £50 to build and he’s used reclaimed parts wherever he can.

It was built over weekends and evenings over a couple of months and Elation came when it successfully cut the lawn which can be seen in episode 30 of the YouTube videos.

Using an old Hitachi battery drill as the drive for the cutter, ultrasonic and visual sensors, it autonomously finds its way around the lawn with a low speed spinning razor efficiently slicing the lawn to a neat length.

The wheels were from an old pram and the rechargeable batteries have been re-claimed from old laptops.

An Arduino micro-controller and some c-code tie all the motors and sensors together with the mower sensing distance from walls and a colour sensor enables it to detect if it has driven off the grass.

Howard has videoed all aspects of this build, from the making of the wooden frame, installing all the components and the successes and failures of each test as it roams the garden mowing the grass.

All 30 videos of the build are available to view on Howard's YouTube channel or google "Howard Taylor Robot Lawnmower".

“The intention of the channel is to offer an entertaining way of developing engineering thoughts and processes in budding engineering enthusiasts,” said Howard.

His next step is to fit a solar panel and leave it outside to recharge itself and take care of the garden allowing more time for other interesting robotic projects around the house.

Since undertaking this project Howard has upgraded an old broken GEC valve radio to modern Bluetooth standards, and developed a 12volt high capacity portable Lithium Ion power pack to supply electricity for many household gadgets.

Howard is happy to visit and offer demonstrations/discussions about robotics and computer controls to schools and colleges.