Team Robo-mower Black — UCF Senior Design
The
Sodfather
An offer your lawn can’t refuse. A self-propelled mower with a Pixel 6 brain, lidar eyes, and a chain of command that runs from your browser to the blades.
The Operation
01 — Muscle
The Mower
A differential-drive chassis: two rear wheels, each run by its own Cytron motor controller, with free-spinning 360° front casters. Forward, reverse, arcs, and full spins in place — no three-point turns in this family.
02 — Brains
The Brain
A Google Pixel 6 rides on board as the mower’s brain — native IMU for attitude and motion, an LDROBOT D500 lidar on the roof for 360° situational awareness, and a radio link to whoever’s giving orders.
03 — Orders
The Controller
This site is mission control. Command the mower over the local network for low-latency driving, or through the cloud relay from anywhere. Live telemetry, lidar view, and an e-stop that always gets the last word.
02 — Architecture
Chain of Command
Controller
A browser dashboard (this site) issues drive vectors, mode changes, and e-stops. Works from the same lawn or the other side of the country.
Relay
ucfrobomower.com — a single Node process serving this app and a WebSocket relay. Controllers in, brain out. No third-party services on the payroll.
Brain
The Pixel 6 on the mower. Connects out to the relay (or accepts direct LAN connections), streams IMU + lidar telemetry, and drives the motors — with a 500 ms failsafe if orders stop coming.