Remote Controls On A Zero-Turn Commercial Lawn Mower To Conduct SAE J2194 Rollover Tests

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) developed an automatically deployable rollover protective structure (AutoROPS) for a zero-turn commercial mower. It was desired to evaluate this AutoROPS on a standard Scag Turf Tiger1 zero-turn commercial mower in field upset tests in accordance with SAE J2194. The standard Turf Tiger was converted to wireless radio remote control operation in order to perform these tests. The remote control design and conversion took approximately six months to complete at a material cost of less than $10,000. This paper discusses (a) the engineering process in developing a remote-controlled zero-turn mower; (b) the critical parameters of operation; (c) actuator sizing; (d) design of actuator control circuitry; (e) actuator integration on the mower; and (f) reliability testing of the system for functionality. The final system incorporates off-the-shelf components for design simplicity, user serviceability, and economic viability.