International Journal of Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering IJMME-IJENS Vol: 10 No: 04 29

Conceptual Designs towards Developing

Mechanically Controlled Semi-Automated
Grass Cutter
Sivarao, T.J.S.Anand, Hanizam, Faizul, Indra Devi

Abstract Automatic control for grass cutting vehicle is

required in order to cope with the environmental effect such as It is necessary to have this semi automated tractor as it is
heat and rain, as well as strain on the driver. The driver of grass obvious that human beings has some physical limitations /
cutting vehicle or tractor has to operate or supervise the
controlled and non-controlled implements along with vehicle
weakness which make the operation to be nonuniform at
guidance. Steering is a monotonous activity and tiring, which can times [1][2]. The rotary motion of the steering wheel is
result in reduced operation time and improve grass cutting converted to linear motion of the tie rod in order to control the
quality. The need to overcome these setbacks was the motivation desired steer angle and direction of both front wheels. The
to develop a concept of a semi-automated steering guidance steering system of a tractor with its tie rod, knuckle and front
system for lawn tractors. This paper presents the design wheels controlled by turning the steering wheel through
conceptualizations of a mechanism to semi-automate a grass
cutting tractor. Several conceptual designs were generated and
recirculating gear box are shown in Fig.2 and Fig.3.
proposed for the mechanism to be equipped with the tractor for
it to self-propel semi-automatically. The scope of the concepts is
for the tractor to travel in a spiral pattern on a flat terrain at
constant moving speed, and without external remote controlling
devices. The characteristics and properties of the conceptual
designs are discussed for their viability to be developed further
into a prototype.

Index Terms Semi-automate a grass cutting tractor, grass

cutting vehicle.

I. INTRODUCTION

T he steering control system of grass cutting tractors varied

in method with available systems such as rack and pinion
system or recirculating ball type. Conventional vehicles use
the rack and pinion system, where the linear motion is
controlled by the pinion gear connected to the steering wheel. Fig. 1: Vehicle steering system (Abe, M. 2009) [1].
However, the more widely used steering system for grass
cutting tractor is recirculating ball type as shown in Fig. 1.
The basic mechanism of recirculating ball type components
are steering wheel, steering shaft, recirculating ball gearbox
(steering gear box), Pitman arm (knuckle arm), tie rod, and
linkages.

Manuscript received July 9, 2010. This work was supported in part by the
University Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) towards working on UTeM
funded project titled engineering of mechanical control kit for unmanned
grass cutter, Project number: PJP/2009/FKP(8A)-S536.
Ir. Sivarao, Anand, Hanizam & Faizul are currently attached to Faculty of
Manufacturing Engineering, while Indra Devi is attached to language and
human development centre, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM),
Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia. The
correspondence author can be contacted via e-mail: kpe_siva@yahoo.com or
sivarao@utem.edu.my Fig. 2: Recirculating ball mechanism of tractor.
 International Journal of Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering IJMME-IJENS Vol: 10 No: 04
Lever linkage
Tie rod
Fig. 3: Tie rod with Lever linkage of tractor
Fig. 4: The motion of the tie rod
In order to design a mechanism to semi-automate the
steering system, it is essential to understand the fundamentals
of the system as an alternative choice to find suitable part
design mechanism to control the steer angle. The main three
parts mechanically significant to this are steering wheel, tie
rod and Pitman arm. The tie rod is connected to two front
wheels through pivoted arm that turns radially. Fig. 4 shows
how the pivoted arm turns when the steering wheel turns,
thus, the movement of the arm that marked as A at the initial
position and B is eventual position after turning from actuator, the drive shaft is turned by a battery powered electric
position A. Therefore, the tie rod swings the arm in radial
motion while the tires are steered accordingly to direct the
tractor.
The most simple and effective method to cover a field is to
let the tractor run in a spiral path. This has been shown with a
cable guided tractor as shown in Fig. 5. This allows the tractor
to cover the field in circular profile where area covered by
30
each circular lap is slightly smaller or equal to the cutting
blade diameter and therefore the grass cutting will take place
on both inward and outward directions from the center. This
method is effective in terms of minimal steering requirement,
where, the steering system of the tractor would only need to
turn in one direction at constant and steady intervals. This
concept provides a constant turning along the spiral pattern by
reducing or increasing the turning angle of the wheels to
perform inward or outward spiral run. Several conceptual
were designs were developed based on the cable guided grass
cutting tractor, but the aim of these concept design is to come
up with the best option in eliminating the cable, but still
maintaining the circular profile principle to cut the grass on
the field. The concept designs are discussed latter in this
paper.
Fig. 5: The winding motion of the tractor
II. RESEARCHES OVERVIEW
Studies were done on the mechanism that would steer the
tractor to move in predetermined or desired travel path. As an
invention from Pansire (1980), a self-propelled and self-
guiding lawn mower which was based on the principle of
magnet following a passive ribbon or wire of ferromagnetic
material [3]. This concept utilizing the principal of a magnet
located on the machine predetermined path defined by passive
wire of ferromagnetic material that impregnated material laid
on or in the ground. The drive wheels are coupled to a
continuously rotating drive shaft by individual solenoid
motor and the guidance system generating steering command
through activating and deactivating the actuators. Another
invention of automated lawn mower was done by Nelson
(1997) [4]. A self-propelled lawn mower which utilizing a
rotating directional loop antenna to determine its positioning
within the cutting area by measuring the angle between
transmitters placed in the cutting area. The orientation is
 International Journal of Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering IJMME-IJENS Vol: 10 No: 04
determined by comparing present and previous positions; the
stored path information is compared with the calculated
position to determine the steering signal which directs the
mower to move in desired path. The direct current drive motor
replaced with a clutch and gear mechanism to the drive wheel
directly from the engine, an actuator would select forward or
reverse gears. A model recognition and validation for an off-
road vehicle electro hydraulic steering controller was done by
Zhang, et al, (2001) [5]. Automated steering control is
essential for autonomous off-road vehicles which use an
electro hydraulic (E/H) actuator to implement the steering
control as can be witnessed in Fig. 6. A kinematic model of
the steering linkage geometry provides the gain between the
hydraulic actuator and the front wheel. The system model was
used to close the steering control loop based on the feedback
signal from the hydraulic steering actuator rather than from
the front wheels.
Electronics and electro hydraulic systems were used as part
of a guiding mechanism for an autonomous tractor. An
agricultural automatic guidance research in North America
was done by Reid, et al, (2000), which reviewed the recent
research in agricultural vehicle guidance [6]. The conceptual
framework of an agricultural vehicle guidance automation
system includes navigation sensors, navigation planner,
vehicle motion models, and steering controllers.
Fig. 6: Hydraulic steering actuating system on the test vehicle [5]
III. CONCEPTUAL DESIGNS
The considerations for the concept designs were; types of
mechanism (motor, linear actuator, etc.) and part of the
tractors steering system to be controlled (steering wheel, tie
rod, etc.). Different types of conceptual mechanism and
systems are proposed to semi-automate the grass cutting
tractor. The outcome of four analyzed concepts, advantages,
limitations and functionality of each one designed concept is
discussed below.
(a) Toothed Steering Concept Design
31
The first concept was to attach a stepper motor to the
steering wheel as shown in Fig. 7. The steering wheel is to be
attached with a gear rack on top and the motor output shaft
fixed with a pinion. The radial motion of the modified steering
wheel would be controlled directly by the stepper motor. This
is a method to directly control the steering wheel of the tractor
in order to steer the front wheels, where, the constant turning
degree of the wheel can be produced by the predefined gear
ratio of the motor pinion and steering gear rack. This system
could produce relatively high torque through the gear and
pinion coupling. The rotating speed of the steering wheel is
inversely proportional to the torque produced, where, the slow
rotating speed could provide a longer duration for the tractor
to cover the field. Besides that, the force from the motor can
be transmitted to the steering wheel efficiently since it is
directly attached without any other mechanically moveable
parts. The rotation would be continuous and smooth with a
constant change in directional angle and speed.
Fig. 7: Toothed Steering Concept Design
The mechanism of toothed steering concept design is
directly connected to the tractors modified steering wheel
which provides a better and easier control of the moving
direction due to the constant ratio of circulating gear box,
lever link and tie rod. The rotational speed (output) and torque
between the pinion and gear depends on the ratio of these
mechanisms, where, the combination of gear and pinion
produces high torque and low speed. Efficient force level can
be produced with this design for continuous and constant
rotating speed in steering the wheels as desired.
One of the disadvantages of this design is to overcoming
back-lash, the opposing force of the steering wheel against the
motor rotate direction. This counter directional force is the
result of the rough ground surface of tractors profile or from
the tractors vibration itself. This phenomenon would
damage/burn the motor if the force is higher than the torque of
the motor which may cause opposite direction while driving
 International Journal of Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering IJMME-IJENS Vol: 10 No: 04
the modified steering wheel. To overcome this, some specially
designed dampers will be attached.
(b) Conical Concept Design
A conical cylinder with cable mechanism was proposed as
the second concept. The cable would pull on the lever which
was connected to the steering gear box as shown in Fig. 8.
The conical cylinder would provide variable timing to drive
the tractor wheels to desired angle varying the conical
winding perimeter where the cable rolls on it.
Fig. 8: Conical Concept Design
For Conical concept design, the system was designed to be
attached to the lever linkage which was connected to the
steering gear box. It is a mechanism with cable wounding
around a conical cylinder. This design is used to control the
lever movement timing. The conical cylinder has a continuous
variable diameter; therefore the cable winding speed around
the conical cylinder will be increasing relatively according to
the variant conical diameters. The lever will be pulled
constantly, increasing timing and produce larger turning of
wheel/steer angle of each conical turn. The advantage of this
design is, it has the variable mechanical timing control which
decides on turning angle. On the other hand, requirement of
higher torque to move the lever and the reliability of the cable
to withstand the force is the challenge to overcome. And, this
design limits the tractor to profile spirally only one way while
cutting, that is inwards or to the centre of the field.
(c) Peaucellier Concept Design
The third concept involved the application of a lead screw
and worm gear in connecting and control radially driving
motor to linear motion of tie rod as shown in Fig. 9. The use
of lead screw could minimize backlash of the steering system,
where the excessive may burn/damage the motor. The
designed radius of the worm gear is the same as the length of
the pivot arm, so that it can be connected to tie rod. The
turning degree of the wheel is produced by the gear ratio of
32
the lead screw and worm gear. The worm drive has a self-
locking capability and this is useful to prevent the back-lash
force from the steering transmitted to the motor. The gear
mechanism is connected to the tie rod of the tractor in order to
control the movement of front wheels. The components that
are used to control the direction of the front wheels are lead
screw, worm gear and motor. To make the worm gear rotate as
the same movement of the pivot arm of tie rod, the worm gear
radius is designed to be the same length as the pivot arm and
connected to the tie rod.
Fig. 9: Peaucellier Concept Design
The turning angle produced depends on the gear ratio
between worm gear and lead screw and also the step produced
by stepper motor. The advantage of this design is that, the
backlash force can be minimized or eliminated. On the other
hand, the limitation of this system is that, the torque required
should be higher than the designs before to move the tie rod.
The tie rod connects directly to the front wheels, therefore the
force required to pull the tie rod is higher to opposed forces
from the steering wheel, recirculating gear box and link lever.
(d) Gear Train Concept Design.
The forth concept involved the controlling of the steering
wheel by a mechanism in which the pinion and gear (steering
wheel) is controlled by a gear reducer and DC motor as shown
in Fig. 10. It also includes the pulley system which reduces
the speed of rotation. This design aims to reduce the overall
rotation speed of the steering wheel to its lowest and increase
the torque by using differential gear ratio. By doing this, the
backlash force on the motor can be reduced while output
torque of the motor is increased through this system. This
concept design is similar to toothed steering type, which
directly controls the steering wheel of the tractor. It combines
the pinion and gear system with another set of gear
 International Journal of Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering IJMME-IJENS Vol: 10 No: 04 33

mechanism integrating pulley system, worm gear reducer, and
gear head. This concept design focused on minimizing the
rotational speed and increases the output torque with several
gear sets. The combination of gear sets produce higher ratio to
the output, thus, it can control the turning angle as minimum
as possible for slower opening of the tractor wheels. The use
of worm gear reducer, as in Peaucellier concept design has the
advantage of eliminating the backlash force which directly
acts on the motor. Besides that, higher output torque is
produced by the high ratio gear set and rotation speed is
reduced in which the tractor is able to travel longer distances
and cover spacious field.
economical application. The result of the development and
testing will be published in next paper.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors/researchers would like to thank the top level
management of Centre for Research & Innovation
Management of UTeM for providing the initial research grant
to initiate the semi-automated crass cutter. Also, the authors
are indebt of thanking Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering,
especially the top level management, Dr. Rizal Salleh, Dr.
Mohd Warikh and Mr. Akramin for providing continuous
support and encouragement towards completion of the first
phase of the project.

[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
Fig. 10: Gear train Concept Design
[6]
While the problems in toothed steering concept design and
Peaucellier concept design do not occur here, the setback of
this design is the number of components involved which
would make it difficult to mount onto the tractor. The
challenge from this concept mechanism is that, the output
speed of the motor has to be matched with the moving speed
of the tractor in order for the tractor to move in a complete
path without gap between each lap in ensuring even and
smooth grass cutting without any clearance between the
cutting circular profiles.
REFERENCES
Abe, M. and Manning, W. Chapter 5 Steering System and Vehicle
Handling Dynamics. United State of America: Elsevier, 2009, pp. 149-
146.
Schierer, E. Humanoid Robots for Human Life Support, Proceedings
of IFAC Conference on Supplemental ways for improving International
stability through automation 15-17 June 2006, Ed. P. Kopacek, 101
105, Elsevier.
Pansire, D.G. Self-propelled Self-guiding Lawn Mower. U.S. Pat 4,
1980 180,964.
Nelson, R.G. Automated Lawn Mower. U.S. Pat.5, 1999, 974,347.
Zhang, Q., Wu, D., Reid, J.F., and Benson, E.R. Model Recognition
and Validation for an Off-road Vehicle Electro hydraulic Steering
Controller. Mechatronics. Vol. 12, 2002, pp. 845-858.
Reid, J.F., Zhang. Q., Noguchi, N., and Dickson, M. Agricultural
Automatic Guidance Research in North America. Computers and
Electronics in Agriculture. vol. 25, 2000, pp. 155-167.

IV. CONCLUSION
Based on the criteria and requirement of the steering system
of a grass cutting tractor, four designs were initiated for the
development of semi automated tractor based on the spiral
grass cutting technique. Each developed design has its
own advantages as well as limitations. The selection of the
most suitable design depends on the feasibility of the
mechanisms, condition of the tractor and environment. In
designing the device, the moving speed of the tractor has to be
considered and taken into account critically due to the
mechanics of devising synchronization of cutting and
traveling on a desired path. The toothed gear steering type as
shown in Fig. 7 stands a greater chance for real life
implementation in case of the back lash dampers are mounted
successfully. The authors, are now working on the developing
mechanisms to semi automate the tractor for real life and