PmWiki | Student / LaurensPlanOfActionRoboticsLab1

Allison and I chose to do the Power Out at the Mall project. Essentially, the robot must be programmed to find the lights on the other side of a wall. We plan on attaching one light sensor to the front and one to the back. If sensor A equals sensor b then motor a will be on for the amount of time it takes to turn ninety degrees. If sensor B is less than sensor A, then both motors will be on because that will assume that the robot is moving toward the light. If sensor A is less than sensor B then both motors will reverse direction for an amount of time.

One difficulty we will face is when the robot runs into a wall and gets stuck. Then, we will implement touch sensors. When the robot hits a wall, the touch sensor will be switched on, and the robot will be programmed to react by moving to the right or left depending on which touch sensor is on. Also, it may turn out that light sensors a and b are never exactly equal. If the position of the light sensors is not ideal, we will try attaching them to either side of the robot so it can steer.

After trying to execute our strategy, I realized that we need a touch sensor. We may be able to attach something to the touch sensor to increase its surface area. That way, the sensor could be pressed on by more than one wall if positioned correctly.