Building first robot, question about pathways

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Hey everyonoe,

I'm new here, but very excited to start my first robot. Been doing RC for years.. Quads, tricopters, planes, FPV. Want to experiment with something new. Bought a Arduino uno, and all the accessories ;) hooked it up, programmed the little LED to blink, got really exctied and now I'm ready to go.


I'm going to start building ChickenParmi's little robot. It looks like a good start and I'm one of those people who like to jump into it and learn along the way. I think I'll hit up a toy store and search for something I can take apart and use thoe motor box from. This will be the first part of what i want to build. Now for my noob question.

I've watched a ton of videos of people having their robots track lines, light, IR. What I would like to do AFTER I accomplish the first part is to be able to give it pathways around the perimeter of my living room. Would that be hard to do? I guess it would be done with timing? go forward for a certain ammount of time, make a left, go for a certain ammount of time etc.. to complete a square of the area? For fun, i'd like to add a 360 degree servo that turns with a wireless camera that I can implement into my security system.

appreciate any tips and thoughts! Seems like a really fun hobby to get into and can't wait to get started!

 

Thanks

 

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OK thanks. Yeah not going

OK thanks. Yeah not going for a square spiral and it doesn’t even have to be a perfect. Justed wanted to see how hard it would be.

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You mentioned a CR servo for a wireless camera.

Would you be supporting the power supply as well or having that somewhere else? If not supported, I would suggest https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/node/27382 . You might want to look at how encoders are implemented and used.

As far as “wall following” that isn’t too difficult. You can either use a distance sensor that is on a servo, swiveling from left to right always avoiding anything that gets too close to the sensor. Be aware that most sensors have a dead band where they won’t recognize “too close”. Sharp IR sensors that are typically used have somewhere between 2 and 4 inches of dead space where too close reads as a long ways off. Ultrasonic sensors are better in that respect. They can get within 1/2" to an inch.

Line following can be done with all manner of lines. I believe I have seen some kind of IR reflective paint that is all but invisible to normal light. Following that would be a simple matter of proper programming.