Patent ID: 11934196
Assignee: HYDRO-GEAR LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
Field: Control (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  A | IPC A  G

Claim 9:
10. A lawn mower system comprising:
a charging station comprising a visual identifier and a beacon emitter configured to emit a beacon; and
a lawn mower comprising:
a blade system to rotate at least one blade;
a drive system having an output to effect movement of the lawn mower;
a beacon sensor configured to sense the beacon;
a vision assembly configured to collect images adjacent the lawn mower, process image data from the images, identify an object based on the image data, and communicate an image determination indicative of the object; and
a processor configured to:
receive the image determination from the vision assembly;
in response to the image determination being indicative of an obstacle, send an avoidance command to initiate an obstacle-avoidance response by the drive system;
execute an incremental timing function to monitor a duration of time after the lawn mower has last departed from the charging station;
enter a searching mode upon recognizing that the duration of time has reached a time threshold;
when in the searching mode:
initiate the beacon sensor to begin seeking the beacon emitted by the charging station to locate the charging station;
send a stoppage command to the blade system to stop rotation of the at least one blade while the charging station is being located;
send a slowdown command to the drive system to slow the output of the drive system to a reduced travel speed while the charging station is being located; and
in response to locating the charging station based on receipt of the beacon, turn toward the charging station and continue to travel at the reduced travel speed until the image determination is indicative of the visual identifier of the charging station; and

subsequently deactivate the obstacle-avoidance response and execute a docking maneuver upon the image determination being indicative of the visual identifier.