12
R
OBOTS
, B
ALL
-C
OLLECTING
C
APACITY
,
AND
W
ORKING
A
REAS
M
OWING
R
OBOTS
robot has discharged all its balls and moved away. The
second robot will then dock with the charging station
attached to the drop pit.
Obstacles must be avoided. This is achieved by move-
ments executed by the robot when a sensor has
detected the obstacle. Permanent obstacles may need
to be avoided by the positioning of the peripheral wire
around them, thus creating islands and pseudo islands.
Clean and inspect the robot everyday.
NOTE:
The presence of an operator is essential for the
management of the golf course. This operator should
receive alarm messages from both the ball-collecting
and the mowing robots.
6 Robots, Ball-Collecting
Capacity, and Working
Areas
Use a minimum of one mowing and one ball-collecting
robot for the installation.
6.1 Mowing Robots
Correct mowing affects the quality of the grass and the
efficiency of the ball-collecting robots. If the grass is too
long it will be torn by the collecting process and will
accumulate in robot’s collection basket. This would
require an in increase in the frequency of cleaning.
6.2 Adapting the Mowing Robots
to Work On a Golf Course
Cutting Blade Installation
Ball Deflector Installation
6.3 Ball Collecting Robots
Ball collecting robots work within the area defined by
the peripheral wire. Install the ball-collecting robot to
operate in the area with the highest ball density.
Productivity is greatly reduced if the ball density is low.
6.4 Ball Collecting Capacity
Asses the number of ball-collecting robots required and
the definition of the areas in which they will work.
Identify the number of balls hit per weekday and
weekend day. This can be estimated by considering the
following:
•
Each driving range bay is used by 5 to 10 players
per day during summer.
•
Each player plays for about 30 minutes, meaning
each bay is used between 2.5 and 5 hours per
day.
•
Each player hits between 50 and 100 balls per
during the 30 minute session.
•
The minimum number balls/day/bay is
5 x 50 = 250.
•
The maximum number balls/bay/day is
10 x 100 = 1,000.
Identify the number of balls available at the facility.
This is the number of balls which can be hit without
collection. In general, multiply the number of balls used
on a peak day by 1.5.
The robot can collect a maximum of 10,000 balls per
day.
The capacity of the basket is 250 balls. When it is full
the robot must return to the drop pit.
The robot requires 1.5 hours to charge the battery. It
can work for 4.5 hours per charge.
The optimal situation is to have the robot operating for
a maximum of 4 hours per day in the high density zone.
Having it work for more than 4 hours results in an
“empty” high density zone and an “over-populated”
outer zone.
It is recommended to send the robot to the high
density zone 3 hours after start of the peak period. If
the peak period goes from 9:00 AM till 5:00 PM, make
robot focus on the high density zone from noon till
4:00 PM.
6.5 Working Areas
Assuming that the grass is correctly mowed, the
productivity of the robot operating in the total working
area would be too low because of the low density of
balls. It is recommended to restrict the robot to
working in the high density area and to use an alterna-
tive method to collect balls over the balance of the
entire working area once a week.
Consider using two separate fields if:
DRAFT
08-06-2019
