With the need to retain social distancing still required for some time to come, appropriate makers are going to need to be in place in a variety of locations.
The pavements and shops are easy, but parks require a different solution which is why I have created the new device known as Mowing Around In Circles. Here's how it works: There are two parts to the mower:part 1 is an automatic rumba type mover controlled by an operator using a remote.part 2 is an arm that attaches to the body of the mower via a set of universal one-size-fits-all clamps.
At the other end of the arm is a spike that gets hammered into the ground. Where the arm connects to the mower is another motor. This motor forces the mower to decrease its circles of rotation once each revolution is completed, or as directed by the remote control, until the mower reaches the loci where the retaining spike is located.
On completion of each circle, the operator withdraws the spike and moves it to another spot 2 metres away then mows another circular area.
The net effect of this operation is the creation of a series of perfectly mowed circles 2 metres apart across a parkland area of otherwise uncut grass.
Those wishing to enjoy a day in the park can now simply place themselves within one of the mowed circles, comfortable in the knowledge that they are safely distanced from everyone else who is doing the same thing.-- xenzag, May 20 2020 How to Cut Grass Without Breaking a Sweat https://landscaping...king-sweat-0148411/ [xaviergisz, May 20 2020] Will It Go Round In Circles? https://www.youtube...watch?v=2szNtnS7Bh4Sing this Billy Preston gem while mowing [xenzag, May 25 2020, last modified Jun 09 2020] Baking in progress https://www.king5.c...d-a783-1a564c190079 [scad mientist, May 29 2020] //within//
Exactly in the centre of, and only then if you assume the person is a one-dimensional vertical line.-- pocmloc, May 20 2020 Or, for an eleganter version, look at the post immediately preceding this one, in the category list.-- FlyingToaster, May 20 2020 The Foundation series of novels (a fantastic set by the way) explores, in part, a future society where people live far apart from each-other for fear of disease.-- Voice, May 20 2020 I simply take a small folding desk and a charity collection bucket. People give me a very wide berth.-- wagster, May 20 2020 HA-- Voice, May 20 2020 //assume the person is a one-dimensional vertical line//
There's a lot of that about, if you believe Marcuse.
Of course, if you pack circles together as tightly as possible, they might as well be hexagons. Therefore, mow hexagons. Why? Because you'll get it done much faster; instead of repeated messing about with a spike, just do three boustrophedon scans of the lawn with carefully spaced interruptions. During each such interruption, the mower keeps rolling forward, but without cutting.-- pertinax, May 20 2020 [pertinax]; well done, you made me look up "boustrophedon".-- neutrinos_shadow, May 21 2020 :-)-- pertinax, May 21 2020 //pack circles together as tightly as possible// I thought the point of this was to emphatically not pack together as tightly as possible?
My point was that the centres of the circles might be 2m apart, which means that only one blade of grass needs cut, per circle, since the next blade will be less than 2m from the centre of the next circle. At which point the circles are arbitrary, the mown area can be whatever shape is simplest to cut, as long as the centres are spaced at 2m intervals. Or rather, as long as the edges of the occupiable i.e. mown areas remain 2m from closest edges.
The optimum packing depends on the required size and shape of the occupiable area. Hexagons and circles of 2m radius are only suitable for "1-D man". Most real humans tend not to have rotational symmetry around a vertical axis; those which do tend to want to sit or lie down.
From a mowing efficiency perspective, your suggestion of triple-mowing has a mathematical elegance as well as using tantalisingly technical words, but from an accounting efficiency point of view a single pass stop-start mower could mow squares pretty easily. If the squares were staggered they could be places with their centres on an equilateral triangle based grid; the corners of the squares would technically allow slightly closer approach to other infected humans, but the spacing could be adjusted to minimise the danger of dying horribly from disease.-- pocmloc, May 21 2020 My contribution to this discussion is to suggest that the points where the spikes go should be called 'grassholes'.-- AusCan531, May 25 2020 Has someone in Seattle been reading the Halfbakery? They're testing social distancing circles in the park. See link.-- scad mientist, May 29 2020 A friend of mine had a goat who would graze his garden on the end of a rope, forming perfect crop circles. When he got home from work he would simply move the pole to a different spot.-- TheBamforth, Jun 09 2020 Nice to see you back here [Bamforth]; it's been a while.-- pertinax, Jun 09 2020 random, halfbakery