LINE FOLLOWING ROBOT

Project Report

MMBS

Prepared By

 MUHAMMAD MEHDI 6059

 MUHAMMAD BILAL 6052
 AHSAN POONAWALA 6066

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Introduction

For our project, we have decided to make a line-follower robot. This simple robot is designed to
be able to follow a black or white line on the ground without getting off the line too much. The
robot has three sensors installed underneath the front part of the body, and two DC motors
drive wheels moving forward and backward (using edge bridge). A circuit inside takes an input
signal from the three sensors and controls the speed of the wheels. The control is done in such
a way that when a sensor senses a black or white line, the motor slows down or even
stops.  Then the difference of rotation speed makes it possible for the robot to make turns.

Objective

  The objective of this project is as follows:-

1) To develop a robot that moves through a dark line on light back ground or vice versa.
2) To make the device automatically track a particular path.

Abstract

The line following is a classic introductory robot design and requires minimal amount of
resources. This robot uses Microcontroller control. This robot is intended to showcase basic
sensor design and robot control system in the form of a small autonomous robot which can
follow a black line over white surface or vice versa.
The vehicle is supposed to have a low-resolution sensors. The control requirement, however, is
specified so as to keep the vehicle as close as possible to the center of the line. The
controllability issues are investigated, A multiple LDR sensor based control algorithm is
investigated for straight as well as curved paths.

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CONTENTS:

1) INTRODUCTION

2) DESCRIPTION

3) COMPONENTS

4) SCHEMTICS

5) CODE

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INTRODUCTION:

For our project, we have decided to make a line-follower robot. This simple robot is designed to be able
to follow a black or white line on the ground without getting off the line too much. The robot has three
sensors installed underneath the front part of the body, and two DC motors drive wheels moving
forward and backward (using edge bridge). A circuit inside takes an input signal from the three sensors
and controls the speed of the wheels. The control is done in such a way that when a sensor senses a
black or white line, the motor slows down or even stops.  Then the difference of rotation speed makes it
possible for the robot to make turns.

A circuit known as an H-bridge because of its topological resemblance to the letter, ‘H’,generally
operates on a single voltage power supply and has the ability to apply positive or
negative voltage to a load connected across the bridge. Often the bridge elements are MOSFETs
which make near ideal electronic switches. Although linear variable conductance is sometimes
used, the MOSFETS are generally operated digitally either ON with a resistance in the milli-ohm
range or OFF with a resistance in the hundreds to thousands of meg-ohms. Pulse-width
modulation (PWM) is often used to linearly vary the power to the load. A common application
is to drive a DC motor at a variable speed either forwards or backwards by changing the polarity
of the voltage.

DESCRIPTION:

Using the three sensors at the bottom of the robot we give signals to our robot to turn left or right,
which happens when the sensors give a signal to the microcontroller which is eventually controlling the
motors connected. The H-bridge arrangement is generally used to reverse the polarity of the motor, but
can also be used to 'brake' the motor, where the motor comes to a sudden stop, as the motor's
terminals are shorted, or to let the motor 'free run' to a stop, as the motor is effectively disconnected
from the circuit.
The simplest type of H-bridge you can build uses Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs), just called
transistors from here on out. If you've never built any sort of power controller then the circuits in this
section are a good introduction. The circuits can be built cheaply, control a number of easily obtained
motors, and even if you burn them up you will learn something.

Material for chassis:

There are wide varieties of materials to choose from when it comes to building your own chassis. Most
people like to use acrylic Plexiglas sheets in place of glass for transparent applications and small
robot bases because it is easy to drill and tap and can be cut with a jigsaw. PVC (pipe) can be

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useful for projects where lightweight strength is needed. Plexiglas, PVC, and most other plastic
can be formed or shaped using heat gun.

Types of wheels:

A standard wheel has a center rotating hub (or bearing) and a compliant material on its outer side.

A caster is a wheel mounted to a fork, with an optional, additional offset steering joint.

An omni-directional wheel (Mecanum wheel, Omni wheel, or Swedish wheel) is made of a large central

hub with many additional smaller wheels mounted along the perimeter such that their axes are
perpendicular to the central wheel. The central wheel can rotate around its axis like traditional wheels,
but the smaller wheels can also enable movement perpendicular to the central axis.

A spherical wheel is omni-directional and is generally a spherical ball mounted inside a

restraining fixture. An example is a ball transfer unit.

DC GEAR MOTORS:

DC Motor has a gear assembly attached to the motor. The speed of motor is counted in terms of rotations
of the shaft per minute and is termed as RPM .The gear assembly helps in increasing the torque and
reducing the speed. Using the correct combination of gears in a gear motor, its speed can be reduced to
any desirable figure. This concept where gears reduce the speed of the vehicle but increase its torque is
known as gear reduction.  This Insight will explore all the minor and major details that make the gear head
and hence the working of geared DC motor.

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Method
Microcontroller will translate this varying voltage using its analog to digital conversion (ADC)
peripheral into the DC motor rotation speed using what known as the Pulse Width Modulation
(PWM) signal. Because this LFR used the “differential steering” (i.e. used two independent DC
motor for steering) method, therefore by varying the left and the right DC motor rotation speed
proportionally to the light intensity received by both of the left and right LDR, we could easily
make the robot to navigate the black track line successfully.

List of Materials
A plastic sheet

Two DC gear motors

Two wheels

One caster wheel

Working Principles

Attach wheels with motor to the chassis, place sensors at front side at a distance more than width of the
black line. Also attach caster wheel at front side between sensors.

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This line follower robot use what is called the “differential drive” steering method, which use
two independent motor mounted in fixed positions on the left and right side of robot’s chassis.
This mean by slowing the rotation speed of the left DC motor will make the robot to arc to the
left and slowing the rotation speed of the right DC motor will make the robot to arc to the right.
If both motor rotate at the same speed than the robot will simply go straight.

Principles of operation of DC motors:

In any electric motor, operation is based on simple electromagnetism. A current-carrying

conductor generates a magnetic field; when this is then placed in an external magnetic field, it
will experience a force proportional to the current in the conductor, and to the strength of the
external magnetic field. As you are well aware of from playing with magnets as a kid, opposite

(North and South) polarities attract, while like polarities (North and North, South and South)
repel. The internal configuration of a DC motor is designed to harness the magnetic interaction
between a current-carrying conductor and an external magnetic field to generate rotational
motion. The motors, which are DC motors originally made for cassette players, are cylindrical
and thus very difficult to mount and firmly fix to a chassis.

PROJECT COMPONENTS:

 Gear motors
 Caster Ball
 Plastic Sheet
 Tyres
 Microcontroller
 LEDs
 LDRs
 Potentiometer
 Comparator
 H-Bridge

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H-Bridge COMPONENTS:

1) 2N2222 TRANSITORS
2) RESISTORS
3) TIP 32 PNP TRANSISTOR
4) TIP 31 NPN TRANSISTOR
5) 1N4001 DIODE

Schematic for H Bridge:

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LED LDR SCHEMETIC :