Proceeding Paper

Development and Analysis of a Solar-Powered Grass Cutter with

Integrated Collector Using IoT †
Muvvala Kalpana * , Penmetsa Sravani, Jatla Sravya, Mandapati Ajay Krishna Varma, Palli Lokesh, Binnala
Lakshmi Sivani and Pediredla Sai Hemanth

Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering, Vignan’s Institute of Information Technology,

Visakhapatnam 530049, India; [email protected] (P.S.); [email protected] (J.S.);
[email protected] (M.A.K.V.); [email protected] (P.L.);
[email protected] (B.L.S.); [email protected] (P.S.H.)
* Correspondence: [email protected] or [email protected]
† Presented at the 5th International Conference on Innovative Product Design and Intelligent Manufacturing

Systems (IPDIMS 2023), Rourkela, India, 6–7 December 2023.

Abstract: This abstract depicts a novel kind of solar-powered grass mower that is capable of being
controlled remotely and can avoid obstacles thanks to the Internet of Things technology. This design
offers an eco-friendly and effective solution that aims at redefining lawn care. By lowering reliance
on fossil fuels, green energy usage promotes sustainability. During operation, an integrated collector
accumulates grass clippings, streamlining trash management. This discovery unlocks the door for
intelligent, user-friendly robotic grass cutters that can navigate obstacles by utilizing cutting-edge
technologies, ushering in a new era of automated and sustainable lawn care.

Keywords: solar power; grass collection; sustainability; grass cutting; renewable energy

1. Introduction
Citation: Kalpana, M.; Sravani, P.;
Sravya, J.; Varma, M.A.K.; Lokesh, P.;
Creating and maintaining a lush, green lawn requires consistent effort. Traditional
Sivani, B.L.; Hemanth, P.S. methods often rely on gasoline or electric lawnmowers, which raise environmental con-
Development and Analysis of a cerns due to noise pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Consistent work is needed
Solar-Powered Grass Cutter with to grow and maintain a lush, green grass. Traditional lawnmowers (gas or electric) harm
Integrated Collector Using IoT. Eng. the environment and require manual labor [1]. Researchers are exploring eco-friendly
Proc. 2024, 66, 43. https://doi.org/ alternatives, like solar-powered and automated lawnmowers [1–4]. This project proposes a
10.3390/engproc2024066043 solar-powered robotic lawn mower that prioritizes sustainability and user convenience. In-
spired by existing research [5–7], we select efficient components and integrate an intelligent
Academic Editors: B. B. V. L. Deepak,
M. V. A. Raju Bahubalendruni,
debris collector. We aim to evaluate the mower’s performance in terms of communication
Dayal Parhi, P. C. Jena,
range, energy consumption, and cutting efficiency. This research aligns with the growing
Gujjala Raghavendra and
interest in automation and efficient lawn maintenance practices.
Aezeden Mohamed
2. Working Principle
Published: 1 August 2024
A solar panel charges a 12 V battery that powers the mower’s electronics controlled
by a NodeMCU via a Blynk app version v1.2.0 (Wi-Fi), with relays activating compo-
nents based on app commands (start/stop, movement). The blades rotate at 60 RPM
Copyright: © 2024 by the authors.
(see Figure 1).
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).

Eng. Proc. 2024, 66, 43. https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2024066043 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/engproc

Eng. Proc. 2024, 66, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 4
Eng.Proc.
Eng. Proc.2024,
2024,66,
66,43
x FOR PEER REVIEW 22 of
of 44

Figure 1. Block diagram of the proposed system.

Figure 1. Block
Figure 1. Block diagram
diagram of
of the
the proposed
proposedsystem.
system.
3. Comparative Analysis and Operational Flow
3.
3. Comparative
Comparative Analysis and
Analysistheand Operational
Operational Flow
Let us understand differences thatFlow
can be seen between traditional grass cutters
Let us understand
and solar-powered
Let us understand the
grassthedifferences
cutters that
with IoT
differences can
thatandbea seen
can between
collector,
be seen traditional
as mentioned
between grass
in
traditional cutters
Table
grass and
1.cutters
Tradi-
solar-powered
tional
and grass cutters
grass cutters grass
solar-powered with
are detailed
cuttersinIoT and
[8–13].
with a collector, as mentioned in Table 1. Traditional
IoT and a collector, as mentioned in Table 1. Tradi-
grass
tionalcutters are detailed
grass cutters in [8–13].
are detailed in [8–13].
Table 1. Traditional grass cutters vs. solar-powered grass cutters with IoT and a collector.
Table1.1.Traditional
Table Traditionalgrass
grasscutters
cuttersvs.
vs.solar-powered
solar-poweredgrass
grasscutters
cutterswith
withIoT
IoTand
andaacollector.
collector.
Features Traditional Grass Cutters Solar-Powered Grass Cutter with Collector
Features
Power Source Traditional Grass
Gasoline/ElectricCutters Solar-Powered Solar-Powered
Solar Grass CutterGrass
Panel (Renewable)withCutter with
Collector
Features Traditional Grass Cutters
Collector
Power Source
Fuel/Energy Cost Gasoline/Electric
Ongoing (gasoline/electricity) SolarNoPanel (Renewable)
ongoing cost
Fuel/Energy Cost PowerOngoing
Source Gasoline/Electric
(gasoline/electricity)
High (gasoline)/Moderate Solar Panelcost
No ongoing (Renewable)
Environmental Risk Fuel/Energy Cost Ongoing (gasoline/electricity) Low
No ongoing cost
High (gasoline)/Moderate
(Electricity)
High (gasoline)/Moderate
Environmental Risk Environmental Risk(Electricity) Low Low
(Electricity) Potentially Lower (Electric
Noise Level High
Potentially LowerLower
Motor)
Potentially (Electric
(Electric
Noise Level Noise Level High High
Grass Collection Requires separate bagging Built-in collector forMotor)
Motor) easy disposal
Grass Collection Requires separate bagging Built-in collector for easy disposal
Grass Collection Requires separate bagging YesBuilt-in
(Wi-Fi)collector
for remoteforcontrol,
easy disposal
potential
IoT Connectivity No Yes (Wi-Fi) for remote control,
IoT Connectivity No Yes (Wi-Fi) for remote control,
scheduling/monitoring potential
IoT Connectivity No potential scheduling/monitoring
scheduling/monitoring
User AppUserControl
App Control
Operation Operation Manual control Manual control
User(Via
App (Via Wi-Fi)
Control
Wi-Fi)
Operation Manual control
(Via Wi-Fi)
As illustrated in Figure 2, the user interacts with the
As illustrated in Figure 2, the user interacts with the solar-powered solar-powered lawn lawn mower
mower
through aa secure
secureconnection
As illustrated
through connection
in Figure on onthe
2, aaBlynk
Blynk app. This
user app. Thiswith
interacts app the
app facilitates remote control
solar-powered
facilitates remote control
lawn mower
ofof the
the
mower’smovement
through
mower’s amovement (forward,backward,
secure connection
(forward, backward,
on left,
a Blynkleft,
app. right). Ifno
nocommands
This Ifapp
right). commandsremote
facilitates arereceived,
are received, the
controlthe app
ofappthe
remainsconnected
mower’s
remains connected
movementand and readyfor
(forward,
ready for furtherinstructions.
backward,
further instructions.
left, right). If no commands are received, the app
remains connected and ready for further instructions.

Figure 2. Operational flow of proposed system.

 Eng. Proc. 2024, 66, x FOR PEER REVIEW

Eng. Proc. 2024, 66, 43 3 of 4

Figure 2. Operational flow of proposed system.

4. Result and4.Discussion
Result and Discussion
The study investigated
The studyainvestigated
solar-powered robotic lawn mower
a solar-powered with
robotic anmower
lawn integrated
withcollec-
an integrated
tor and IoT connectivity (Figure 3).
lector and IoT connectivity (Figure 3).

(a) (b)
Figure 3.grass
Figure 3. Solar-based Solar-based grass cutter
cutter featuring featuringusing
a collector a collector using
IoT. (a) An IoT. (a) Andesign
AutoCad AutoCad design of the
of the
posed system; (b)
proposed system; (b) output model.output model.

Theoreticalwere
Theoretical calculations calculations
conductedwereto conducted
estimate thetoperformance
estimate the of performance
the proposedof the prop
solar-powered solar-powered
robotic lawn robotic
mower.lawn mower.
As shown in As shown
Table 2, theinmower
Table 2,is the mowerto
estimated is run
estimated to
for a durationfor
ofa34.1
duration
min on ofa34.1
full min on acharge.
battery full battery charge. This
This runtime runtime
is based is based
on the poweron the p
consumptionconsumption
of the motorsofandthethe
motors and
usable the usable
capacity capacity
of the batteryof(considering
the battery (considering
a safety as
factor). The cutting
factor).speed is estimated
The cutting speed to
is be 11.48 mto
estimated per
beminute,
11.48 mcalculated
per minute, based on the based o
calculated
assumed effective cutting
assumed widthcutting
effective and blade rotation
width speed.
and blade rotation speed.

Table 2. SystemTable
performance analysis.
2. System performance analysis.

Aspect Aspect Calculation Calculation Result

Result
Power ConsumptionPower per Motor (𝑃 )per Motor (Pm )
Consumption 𝑉 × 𝐼 Vm × Im 60WW
60
Total Power Consumption
Total Power(𝑇 )
Consumption (Tpc ) 𝑃 × 2 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 Pm × 2 motors 120WW
120
Usable Battery
Usable Battery Capacity (𝐶 Capacity
) (Cusable ) 𝐶 × 0.8 Cbattery × 0.8 67.2
67.2Ah
Ah
Estimated Runtime Cusable /(Tpc × 60 min) 34.1 min
Estimated Runtime 𝐶 /(𝑇 × 60 min) 34.1 min
1000 mm/Cutting Width × Cutting
Effective Cutting Effective
Width (𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 (E f f ective
Cutting Width) 1000 cw )
mm/Cutting Width × Cutting 0.1913
0.1913mm
RatioRatio
Distance Cut perDistance
Rotation (𝐷per
Cut ) Rotation (Dr ) 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 E f f ectivecw 0.1913mm
0.1913
Estimated Cutting Estimated
Speed Cutting Speed 𝐷 × RPM Dr × RPM 11.48
11.48m/min
m/min

5. Conclusions5. Conclusions
This work explored the design
This work and
explored feasibility
the design andof afeasibility
solar-powered robotic lawn mower
of a solar-powered robotic lawn m
with integrated debris collection and IoT connectivity. The proposed
with integrated debris collection and IoT connectivity. The system prioritizes
proposed system priori
sustainabilitysustainability
and user convenience
and user by utilizing renewable
convenience by utilizing solar energy and
renewable solarfacilitating
energy and facilit
remote control via acontrol
remote mobileviaapplication. While further
a mobile application. optimization
While is necessary,
further optimization this
is necessary, this
concept offerscept
a promising solution for
offers a promising eco-friendly
solution and efficient
for eco-friendly andlawn care.lawn care.
efficient

Author Contributions: Conceptualization,

Author Contributions: M.K. and P.S.;M.K.
Conceptualization, methodology, J.S.; software, J.S.;
and P.S.; methodology, M.A.K.V.;
software, M.A
validation, P.L.,validation,
B.L.S. andP.L.,
P.S.H.; formal
B.L.S. analysis,
and P.S.H.; P.S.;analysis,
formal investigation, M.K.; resources,
P.S.; investigation, M.K.;J.S.; data J.S.; da
resources,
curation, M.A.K.V.;
ration,writing—original draft preparation,
M.A.K.V.; writing—original P.S.; writing—review
draft preparation, and editing,
P.S.; writing—review andP.L.;
editing, P.L.;
visualization, B.L.S.; supervision,
alization, M.K.; project
B.L.S.; supervision, administration,
M.K.; M.K.; funding
project administration, M.K.;acquisition, P.S. All P.S. A
funding acquisition,
authors have read
thors and agreed
have readto theagreed
and published version
to the of theversion
published manuscript.
of the manuscript.
Funding: This Funding:
research received no external
This research funding.
received no external funding.
Institutional Review Board Review
Institutional Statement: NotStatement:
Board applicable.Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Eng. Proc. 2024, 66, 43 4 of 4

Data Availability Statement: The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made
available by the authors on request.
Acknowledgments: All the authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of management to this
research project. Their support and guidance were instrumental in its completion.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References
1. Pita, M.J.; Sob, P.B. Design of solar-powered grass trimmer [Paper presentation]. In Proceedings of the SAIIEneXXXt Proceedings,
Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 30 September–2 October 2021; Available online: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mothibeli-
Pita/publication/352843922_4307-1_DESIGN_OF_SOLAR_-POWERED_GRASS_TRIMMER/links/60dc8548458515d6fbeeb1
66/4307-1-DESIGN-OF-SOLAR-POWERED-GRASS-TRIMMER.pdf (accessed on 11 November 2023).
2. Muhammad, A.N.; Muhammad, Z.H. Design and Implementation of Automatic Solar Lawn Grass Cutter. In Proceedings
of the Multi-Disciplinary Student Research International Conference, University of Wah, Wah Cantt, Pakistan, 14 May 2019;
Available online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368471352_Design_and_Implementation_of_Automatic_Solar_
Lawn_grass_cutter (accessed on 24 November 2023).
3. Titarmare, P.; Yende, S.; Gaurkhede, P.; Salunke, A.; Turkar, H.; Sahare, M.; Katole, S.; Nimgade, S. Research paper on solar
automated grass cutter. Int. J. Adv. Res. Innov. Ideas Educ. (IJARIIE) 2021, 7, 2859–2866.
4. Pawar, A.; Bhalerao, A.; Tagunde, R.; Undirwade, N. Semi-Automatic Solar Powered Grass Cutter. Int. J. Res. Appl. Sci. Eng.
Technol. (IJRASET) 2022, 10, 229. [CrossRef]
5. Das, B.C.; Das, R. Development of Grass cutter using Solar Energy. J. Emerg. Technol. Innov. Res. (JETIR) 2023, 10, JETIR2307898.
6. Tyagi, P.; Agarwal, A.; Kalhans, A.S.; Kumar, A. Automated solar grass cutter. Glob. J. Res. Anal. (GJRA) 2018, 7, 151–158.
7. Singh, A.; Pandey, D.K.; Sayyed, M.S.; Dubey, P. Solar powered automatic grass cutter. Int. Res. J. Mod. Eng. Technol. Sci.
(IRJMETS) 2023, 5, 3372–3375.
8. Gao, Y.; Li, Y.; Wang, H.; Li, Z. A review of path planning for autonomous lawn mowers. Meas. Sci. Technol. 2020, 31, 122002.
9. Yoon, S.; Kim, Y.; Kim, H.C. Design and implementation of a smart grass-cutting robot using an IoT-based monitoring system.
Sensors 2019, 19, 3228.
10. Chauhan, N.; Patel, D. Design and fabrication of hybrid operating grass cutter. Int. J. Eng. Res. Technol. (IJERT) 2018, 8, 68–72.
11. Thilagavathi, K.; Sanjana, V. Autonomous Solar Powered Lawn Mower. In Proceedings of the 2023 2nd International Conference
on Advancements in Electrical, Electronics, Communication, Computing and Automation (ICAECA), Coimbatore, India, 16–17
June 2023; pp. 10–11. Available online: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10200615 (accessed on 8 December 2023).
12. Sharma, S.; Madaan, V. Solar powered automatic grass cutter with line following and obstacle avoidance mechanism. Int. J. Innov.
Sci. Res. Technol. (IJISRT) 2020, 5, 179–184.
13. Sasikumar, G.; Mujiburrahman, K.; Subhashini, R.; Begum, S.S. IoT enabled solar-powered grass cutter utilizing radiant solar
energy. J. Integr. Sci. Technol 2024, 12, 759. [CrossRef]

Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual
author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to
people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.