How to build an advanced line following robot??

[Sam Fisher]

How to build an advanced line follower robot?

Hi all!
I am a beginner in Robotics ...
But I have no experience in building this kind of robots ( Advanced line follower robot)...
I have a robotics contest on 7th Of august in the field of advanced line follower robots ... Can you help me?
I need Some Sites about how to build these robots & ...
I want to win the contest... please help me if you can...
Thanks.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

What makes an advanced line follower better than a typical line follower?

PS Experience = Win

 

[Sam Fisher]

Well , you don't have an article in this case?
I can't do some changes in the typical robot structure that convert it into advanced ?
Well ... I don't think that the structure of an advanced line follower robot is very complex..
Thanks.

 

[Mr RB]

What's the competition in August?

 

[Sam Fisher]

What's the competition in August?

Robotics Competition in the field of advanced line following ...

 

[Sam Fisher]

Hi there...
Here is a Cool Forum! I love it!...
I have a question:
Working with which sensor is easier? Photocell or IR sensor?
Thanks.

 

[Triode]

There are many types of both, but short answer theyre about the same difficulty except if you use visible light...you can see it.

One tip I can give you is that you can get most of these parts from a broken printer, which are usually easy to find. They have motors and gears for controlled pacing, steppers, DC brushed or both. They often have led/sensor pairs which they use to track how far they've moved. And you may be able to salvage some good connector cables, complete with sockets, motor control parts, buttons, resistors and other such stuff. Since a printer already is a robot that detects lines and controls motors, you might have everything you need.

 

[Sam Fisher]

Hi,
Which do you choose to start? Which is easier to start to building a robot?
AVR or PIC ?

 

[Triode]

There are supporters of both, I chose PIC, there are a lot of PIC users here, and I've found tutorials on them can be found easily, if you choose AVR there is support for that, but you would probably want to go to a forum for that like AVRfreaks. Theres also the paralax propeller, all I know about it is that it has eight cores, it uses co processing instead of interrupts, and that it has its own community of hobbiests as well, no one really talks about those chips here either.

If you go with PIC just go ahead and start with the PIC18F series, for some reason someone I know told me that the lower numbers were easier. So I started with them, it turns out thats like saying a commodore 64 is easier to use than a modern PC. Sure its got more in it, but thats just more stuff to make it useable. I've switched to 18F chips, and haven't had much use for the 16F and 12F stuff I got since. 18F chips have been way easier to use.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

At this rate you'll never be ready by August. Most line followers don't have a CPU, you should start with your chassis and sensors and worry about the logic after that.

 

[Triode]

Does it define in the rules what is meant by "advanced" line follower?

 

[Sam Fisher]

Does it define in the rules what is meant by "advanced" line follower?

I mean that robot should follow these lines :

Robot must follow a line that has 18 mm width and May be in some parts of the route changes unusual line width that the maximum width variation is 4.5 cm , Like these :

 

[Triode]

whats it supposed to do on the filled in half circle and the double arrow head? Is it just supposed to pass through them without becomming confused?

 

[Sam Fisher]

Does it define in the rules what is meant by "advanced" line follower?

I mean that robot should follow these lines :

Robot must follow a line that has 18 mm width and May be in some parts of the route changes unusual line width that the maximum width variation is 4.5 cm , Like these :

Radius is at least 30 mm.

After each change, at least 20 cm is the direct route.
there may be one or more closed loop or path with a minimum angle of 10 degrees to the horizontal line:

Errors:

1. Contact robot with a red line border with 20 cm distance on both sides of the main line .

2. Revolve around , although the mainstream and return again to the line.

3. Any physical stimulation during the Robot Competition during (lift wire, contact hand with the robot and ..)

4. Start earlier than the referee announced.

Competition land dimensions are 180 × 300 cm

These rules were summarized total...

One person told me that use tcrt5000 sensors...

If you need more informations post it here...
Thanks.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Is the contest August 7 2010 or 2009?

How big is your budget?
How will you get the parts you need in time?
How do you plan to test your design before the contest?

 

[Triode]

have you ever built a plain old two sensor hurky jerky line follower?

 

[Sam Fisher]

have you ever built a plain old two sensor hurky jerky line follower?

No , But once i built a light follower robot that was wrong with its gearboxes and wheels... (A Robotics Kit)

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Guess I'm on the ignore list.

 

[Triode]

Maybe talking to people who actually know what they're doing is cheating? haha. Just so you know sam, I'm a Mechanical Engineering student, Bill here is a Electronic Kit designer. But then he did say the last one failed because of gears and wheels, not electronics, so maybe I'm the one to talk to

 

[Sam Fisher]

whats it supposed to do on the filled in half circle and the double arrow head? Is it just supposed to pass through them without becomming confused?

Yes , And it supposed to pass through them quickly and without wasting time...

Is the contest August 7 2010 or 2009?

How big is your budget?
How will you get the parts you need in time?
How do you plan to test your design before the contest?

Hi,
2009,
about 40 $ for my first project...
All the Best.
Thanks my best friends ! (blueroomelectronics and triode and other guys)