Society of Robots - Robot Forum

Electronics => Electronics => Topic started by: offy on March 08, 2010, 11:03:13 PM

Title: Sensors: Stay on sidewalk, don't go on grass
Post by: offy on March 08, 2010, 11:03:13 PM

I'm working on a new robot project. I used color tracking and it kept the robot aligned, but I don't want a laptop on it now. I need it to stay on the sidewalk. I was thinking of the line following concept and think it might work. Advice? - Budget is low.


-Thanks, Offy

Title: Re: Sensors: Stay on sidewalk, don't go on grass
Post by: SmAsH on March 08, 2010, 11:32:40 PM

Line following could work, just have some overhand of your wheels and put the sensors there, then program it to move left if the right sensor detects grass etc...

Title: Re: Sensors: Stay on sidewalk, don't go on grass
Post by: offy on March 09, 2010, 03:07:49 PM

Ok, thanks SMaSH. Does anyone have another idea?

Title: Re: Sensors: Stay on sidewalk, don't go on grass
Post by: little-c on March 09, 2010, 03:13:55 PM

buy a really cheep old laptop off ebay and use that? an old IBM thinkpad, strip it out of its casing, ditch the cd drive and floppy drive, thin out frames and stuff, stick on robot?

basicly your looking at 30-50 quid tops.

Title: Re: Sensors: Stay on sidewalk, don't go on grass
Post by: Razor Concepts on March 09, 2010, 04:17:08 PM

use a color sensor

Title: Re: Sensors: Stay on sidewalk, don't go on grass
Post by: offy on March 09, 2010, 04:29:30 PM

Links and Product Numbers/Names would be helpful.

-Thanks

Title: Re: Sensors: Stay on sidewalk, don't go on grass
Post by: Canabots on March 09, 2010, 06:38:04 PM

Colour Sensor? http://www.robotshop.ca/parallax-color-sensor-tcs230-db.html (http://www.robotshop.ca/parallax-color-sensor-tcs230-db.html)

Something maybe to read about if you are a little tighter on budget, or want a simpler solution for the moment: http://robotroom.com/ColorSensor.html (http://robotroom.com/ColorSensor.html)

I want to see some progress on this robot!  :P

Canabots

Title: Re: Sensors: Stay on sidewalk, don't go on grass
Post by: offy on March 09, 2010, 09:07:12 PM

Here is a color sensor I found. A lot cheaper. $20.

http://www.robotshop.com/parallax-colorpal-color-and-light-sensor.html (http://www.robotshop.com/parallax-colorpal-color-and-light-sensor.html)

I found a $50 UART JPEG camera. I might use this, even though its only 1fps.
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/uart-camera-module-with-jpeg-compression-c328-p-209.html?cPath=6 (http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/uart-camera-module-with-jpeg-compression-c328-p-209.html?cPath=6)

I will keep everyone updated. I will probably record tomorrow with me controlling robot via bluetooth.