Robot Follower

Inspiration

I was looking for a way to control the car without the use of remote control or guiding tape. I found it strange that the sensor was used only to stop the car instead of also guiding it. In Obstacle Avoidance Mode, ultrasonic sensor was used to detect obstacles so they could be avoid. I used the same sensor to design the Follower Mode. Instead of using sensor to detect obstacles, I used sensor to find the guiding object that the car could follow.

What it does

The car use ultrasonic sensor to detect the object near it and moves towards the object. This way, the car could follow your hand and goes wherever you guide it to.

How we built it

The car was built according to the instruction manual from the kit. Elegoo BLE Tool App was used to program the Follower Mode.

Challenges we ran into

Because the sensor was programmed to detect obstacles like walls, it is not sensitive to objects like hands and human. The robot car needs to stop constantly to allow for multiple detection to find the guiding object. It also does not work well in area near walls, because it was not programmed to distinguish guiding object from obstacles.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The Follower Mode allows the robot car to follow your hand's movement and go wherever you guide it to automatically in a open space.

What we learned

This was a fun experience where I learned how to make my own programs to control motors and sensors.

What's next for Robot Follower

The next step will be reprograming the sensor to better suit the function of Follower Mode.
With a more optimized sensor, the car would no longer need to stop for multiple detections. The sensor could also be used to detect distance from objects, so that the car could stop when its too close to anything. It would be even better if we could use the sensor to distinguish the guiding object from the obstacles, so that car will not confuse them when running.

Built With

• arduino
• elegoo
• motor
• sensor