LisapinalsSummaryAndResults

The purpose of this lab was to have the Create follow a line. The line is made up of black electrical tape and has many curves and sharp turns. My code can handle sharp right angles and many other curves. It does have a difficult time with the right angles sometimes, though. It starts twitching back and forth, but the problem usually resolves itself and the Create continues traveling on the line in a few seconds. I tried out multiple speeds and wait times, but the values I picked are moderate speeds with minimal twitching at right angles. I made the delays and wait times very short so that the robot is constantly reading the sensors. The delays make the program run smoothely with minimal twitching.

There are a couple of spots that the robot does completely get off of the line. These are the hard right angles and the quick switch backs. The Create cannot follow this because of the configuration of the sensors. Although they are ideal for this purpose, sometimes the Create drives by the right angles without seeing the black line. The sensors are ideal for this purpose because with two cliff sensors on the right front and left front, the Create is able to keep the black line between the sensors.

This lab taught me a few life lessons. I came into this robotics class with the expectation that computers work, all of the time. After spending hours working on this lab, I realized that my expectations of computers are too high. I also learned how to use C in writing a program and how to start using flowcharts to help with my code.