A Bot With a Brain Using infrared obstacle detection circuits to create an autonomous robot that will navigate itself through an obstacle course. Bailey Breaux Lacie Duplessis

Abstract Students create autonomous robot from Parallax Inc.’s Boe Bot to compete in obstacle course with a ramp Requires electrical wiring, computer programming, understanding of sensors All groups used infrareds, some used accelerometers, one used phototransistor Two groups using two infrareds & one accelerometer succeeded One group using three infrareds succeeded Combination of infrareds and accelerometer proves to make best autonomous robot

Introduction Boe Bot teaches: engineering, electronics, software development Understand all sensors: Infrared- detects objects using binary number system whisker- rubs sensor on robot when it touches an object phototransistor- detects difference from darkness and light accelerometer- uses X-Y coordinate system to determine level of ground Use these to create autonomous robot to navigate obstacle course

Research Questions Which sensors or combination of sensors will work best? What should the computer coding look like? How will a change in wiring the circuit board help? Are there any glitches in the robot that need to be fixed? Calibrated servos? Charged batteries? Burnt sensors?

Methods Study problem by determining obstacle and resources Wire Boe Bot with three infrared detection circuits. Use BASIC stamp software on computer to program robot with a DO LOOP and GOSUB commands Place the robot in randomly generated obstacle course with a ramp. Record time it takes to complete the course. Robot cannot be touched or assisted through course Course must be completed in 3 min or under Analyze and compare robot’s time to other robots’ times to determine which sensors were most effective in creating an autonomous robot

Results Round 1: Robot flipped on back in middle of maze Robot did not complete obstacle 2 3 Robot completed obstacle at 1 min 14 sec Round 1: Robot flipped on back in middle of maze Round 2: Robot became stuck in a gap between the maze wall and the ramp wall right at the end of the maze Round 3: robot finished maze and reached the top of the ramp in 1 min and 14 secs, but did not stop at top

Discussion Only three of seven robots succeeded in navigating entire maze and going up ramp No robot stopped at top of ramp Of the three, two had two infrareds along with one accelerometer The third had three infrareds

Conclusions Infrared sensors alone are best navigable sensors Combination of infrareds and accelerometer is best for creating autonomous robot

References Lindsay, Andy. Robotics with the Boe-Bot: Student Guide : Version 3.0. [s.l.]: Parallax, 2004. Print.