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Check Out My Progress!

As of Saturday, December 29

So I took external light sensor readings on a set of white Christmas lights and a yellow ball that we are using for the Egg Hunt. Here's what I got for results:

In both cases, I used only 1 photo resistor sensor placed in cr8->adc_CENTER2 and positioned at the front of the robot

Christmas lights

To run this test, I placed 1 photo resistor (light) sensor in the front of the robot
I noticed that the range was, for the most part, > 400 and < 480
The best range of readings that I got for the light sensor was between 415 and 475

* Keep in mind though, these results might change depending on the brightness of the lights that will be used in the egg hunt and also how concentrated the light source is (for instance, the lights can be tangled so it would be brighter at one end of the goal opposed to the other)

Yellow Ball

I would double-check the readings of the yellow ball for errors, but for the most part, the range was very small
The range for the yellow ball was between 270 and 273

* We I noticed that the yellow ball is not quite as tall as the robot, so the light sensor would have to be positioned at an angle in order to get a decent sensor reading

As of Friday, January 4

Egg Hunt Wall Follow code

This is my wall following code that we might potentially use to find the goal. We will most likely use light sensors opposed to distance sensors but this code might come in handy if we plan on sabotaging (in a friendly manner of course) the other groups.
Chandni and I came up with an "outline" of all the tasks that the robot needs to complete as well as an idea of how the robot wants to complete each task
These tasks include:

1.Making the robot be able to pick the color that it wishes to find- We plan to do this by using the play and advance buttons to switch between codes. We also took sensor readings on each ball color, as shown above, so that we can use the photo resistor sensors to find the ball

2.Once it has chosen which color it wishes to find, have it locate an egg- To do this we will use two photo resistor sensors placed at a downward angle in the front of the robot to pick up sensor readings on the ball, similar to braitenberg

3.Create some sort of "egg trapping device" that will let us trap egg and bring to goal

4.Home in on light source and drop egg in goal- At this point, the egg should be secured in the egg catching device. We will then stop getting readings from the photo resistors described above but instead, get new sensor readings from two additional sensors placed on top of the robot. These sensors will be coded to detect, and follow the goal lights

Chandni and I also plan to use a servo motor as part of the egg trapping device
My goal this weekend is to create a code that outlines the tasks above and has coding to do each of the above tasks

Egg Hunt Code

As of Friday, January 11

Chandni and I used the outline code that I wrote for wall following and applied some of the same coding that she used for Braitenburg into it
We also made some final decisions on what sensors we will need to complete the egg hunt task

Material List:

1. 3 photo resistor sensors; 1 used to help find the egg and the other 2 used to find the goal

2. 1 servo motor to trap the egg

3. 1 distance sensor used along with the photo resistor sensor to find the egg

We learned that it is going to take a little more than just Braitenburg coding to find the egg
Light reflecting off the egg, sensor location, and similarities in sensor readings will all affect how well the photo resistors detect the egg
We decided that the best way to detect the eggs would be to use one photo resistor sensor placed at an angle in the very front of the robot along with a distance sensor located off the center of the robot to find the egg
If the distance sensor value is greater than 300 (robot is close to object) and the photo resistor senses either the blue or yellow egg, then we know that we found an egg opposed to the wall
My goal for this weekend is to come up with a code for finding eggs
I also plan on incorporating my wimp mode code into finding the egg

Allison's and Chandni's Super-Secret Egg Hunt Planning Blueprints!!