Thanks! How long? I have no idea, I did not let it run that long! I have changed the batteries once, but since then I moved the motors, batteries and board on a different shaped chassis, trying to make a balancing robot. It did not perform good, as the sensors were a bit too high (they have to be between the motors, at the same level as the motor’s axle) and the COG was too low. Also I had problems with the motors, they start at a high PWM value and I have to drop that value a lot to have them only slowly rotate. So not a good choice for a balancing robot. Here is a picture of my attempt:
Nice job! I just have a suggestion. Reduce the speed of the robot by controlling each motor with PWM technique as I realized you are working on. Then rotate the IR distance sensor not only when it detects an obstacle in dangerous distance, but all the time while it is moving around. Try to make a simple map in the memory and make a decision according to the maximum mobility direction to change the robot’s direction.
About your suggestion, I could probably do that, but this robot was more of an example off what can you build with an Arduino and a Robot Builder’s Shield. Frits already did something like that with his Start Here robot.
I am more interested in doing some more examples for using the µBotino controller with Android control over Bluetooth, voice command, etc. Unfortunately I am low on time lately and it will not improve much over the summer. To top off the bad luck, I lost my Android phone while I was taking a walk in the park (see stupid, if you were working you wouldn’t have lost it!) so it will take some more time until I’ll be able to shed another $140 for a smart phone (I know I can get it for free, but I don’t want to pay for data plan).
