Robot Line Follower

From Merlin Systems Wiki

The Merlin Robot Line Follower is an add-on board for Miabot Classic and Pro robots that provides a simple line-following interface.

Image:mbt_line_follow.jpg Picture of Miabot-BT with line-follower accessory


The line-follower is a small pcb that can be easily added to our miniature robots
(on the Classic robot, it simply plugs into the standard expansion port at floor level, as shown)

The kit includes the line-follower board, a Visual basic demonstration application and its source code.


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Hardware

The board is suspended about 5mm above the floor surface. It is designed for a dark line on a white surface -

  • The three sensors actually monitor infrared reflectance, but most black and white

surfaces, substances or paints will work.

  • The line should be about 2cm or ¾ inch wide.
  • Ordinary black electrical insulating tape works well.

Three LEDs on top of the board show the immediate state of the sensors = ON over the background (white), and OFF when detecting the line (dark).


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Demo Application

The main control window looks like this -

Image:linefollow.jpg


The demo application allows you to turn line-following on or off, move the robot manually, and adjust control parameters such as speeds and turning rates.
the 'Sensors' panel reflects the current sensors state, as seen at the LEDs on the robot.

The application is available in two different versions for the Classic and Pro robots.

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