Intro to Engineering Fall 2004 ROBOLAB Project By Team Eight Chris Kiser, Candace Penry, Tobias Portillo, Amin Parnian, John Mitchem, Hafiz Rashid

Robot Design

Program for Blue, Black, and Green tape

What Worked & What Didnt Work 1) The wider spacing between the light sensors seemed to be the most effective for our particular design. Although the closely spaced sensors worked well on a course of acute angles, they did not fair well with the right and obtuse angles. 2) The small bare wheel on the front also worked well with our design. The wheel allowed the entire robot to make fast, continuous turns as well as short, sharp turns. If the front wheel was covered by a rubber tire, it created too much friction and would not turn well.

3) The absence of gearing did not appear to affect our design except on turns of ninety degrees or greater. Running the robot on the lowest power level seemed to help correct the problem in many instances (demonstrated by video clip). However, the robot could be tested at full power with decent results if sharp turns were not included (also demonstrated by video clip). 4) The time delay used in the program was invaluable to the success of our chosen design. In the absence of a time delay, the robot would pass over any turn without adequate correction. If the time delay were set to high, the robot would over correct and leave the course. Finding a time delay somewhere between these two dilemmas was the greatest challenge once the design was finished.