This is another robot project that I did to give away at a Christmas secret Santa gift exchange…
Its a Pummer type B.E.A.M robot where the solar panel holds the enable high
till the light drops the panel low enough to send a low to the enable
triggering a oscillation of the small LED to illuminate then fade away over
and over at night.
Total project cost around 20.00 USD
im working on a SolarBug project.
i was going to fee-solder the components but i have a small board ill be using. if ok with you ill post pictures here when i get round to finishing it?
Those are cool. The photo diodes remind me that I have been wanting to try a simple IR distant sensors for my aluminum skull chassis mounted on my brat. I have been looking for alternate “EYES" so that it can see its environment.
When a photon of sufficient energy strikes the diode, it excites an electron, capable of converting light into either current or voltage.
they work really well in sunlight but you get some movement with house hold light.
the bot chases the light by detecting it though both diodes. the stronger the light that enters either diode makes the opposite motor push the bot round making it face the light.
I’ve never tinkered with these gizmos, but have a couple of solar yard LED lights I got for $1.50 each. I was interested in them as they have a solar cell to charge a single 1.5v battery and may have a voltage charge pump to up the battery output voltage to the LED operating voltage. The solar yard lights may be a cheap source of parts.
