Speaker's Title and Affiliation: Senior Advanced Development Engineer, John Deere

Seminar Title: Robotic mowing: It’s harder than it sounds

Abstract:
Service robots have captured our collective imaginations for decades. The promise of a life of leisure made possible by robots that fold our clothes and mow our lawns is alluring, and yet, consumer robots are a rarity. Television and movies have shown us what a world of robots could look like, but what does it take to deliver on this imagined robot utopia?

This talk will look at John Deere’s development of the Tango E5 Robotic Lawn Mower. A brief introduction to the Tango E5 will turn into an in-depth investigation of an unexpected sensor reading and how that sensor reading led to a significant improvement in system performance.

Speaker Bio:
David Johnson has nine years of industry experience in the development and deployment of robotic systems and related technologies. Since joining John Deere, he has worked to automate numerous off-road vehicle operations, with applications ranging from construction to agriculture and lawn care. In 2008 Mr. Johnson began development of John Deere’s Tango E5 robotic lawn mower. That product was released for sale in 2011 in Germany & France, and it is now available in most European countries. Currently, he is a senior advanced development engineer working in Deere’s Turf & Utility Platform.