Sumobot IR Detectors malfunctioning?
Hello!
I recently bought a Sumo Competition Kit and have been having success with setting it up, but I am now on "Testing the IR Pairs" on page 39 of the Sumobot Manual.
Basically, this is the step where you mount IR LEDs and IR Detectors on the left and right side of the robot. The LEDs emit a frequency and when something is in front of those LEDs, like a hand, the IR Detector will pick up the signal from the reflection.
Out of all of the IR Detectors that came with the set, three of them work perfectly. The ones that work will show a '1' on my debugger when I put my hand in front of the sensor, and a '0' when nothing is in front of it.
When I use any other IR Detector other than those three, a '1' will show up when my hand is in front of it, but when nothing is in front of it the debugger will read '0' MOST of the time, but will have small flickers of a '1' reading.
This makes me think that the IR Detectors are too sensitive. I have been able to reproduce the error by switching back and forth from the Bad IR Detectors and the good IR detectors. I have put the bad Detectors in both of my Sumo robots and the problem always seems to stay with Robot with the Bad IR detector. The IR LEDs I have also been replacing, and I made sure that the IR LEDs weren't leaking any light from the back of their casings. When I remove the IR LED completely the IR Detectors do not pick up any readings and the debugger reads '0', as it should. I just found it strange that ALL of the IR Detectors, with the exception of three of them, are working.
Do I just need to order more Detectors or is there something else that I have missed? Are these IR Detectors tempermental in house lights that are dim?
I recently bought a Sumo Competition Kit and have been having success with setting it up, but I am now on "Testing the IR Pairs" on page 39 of the Sumobot Manual.
Basically, this is the step where you mount IR LEDs and IR Detectors on the left and right side of the robot. The LEDs emit a frequency and when something is in front of those LEDs, like a hand, the IR Detector will pick up the signal from the reflection.
Out of all of the IR Detectors that came with the set, three of them work perfectly. The ones that work will show a '1' on my debugger when I put my hand in front of the sensor, and a '0' when nothing is in front of it.
When I use any other IR Detector other than those three, a '1' will show up when my hand is in front of it, but when nothing is in front of it the debugger will read '0' MOST of the time, but will have small flickers of a '1' reading.
This makes me think that the IR Detectors are too sensitive. I have been able to reproduce the error by switching back and forth from the Bad IR Detectors and the good IR detectors. I have put the bad Detectors in both of my Sumo robots and the problem always seems to stay with Robot with the Bad IR detector. The IR LEDs I have also been replacing, and I made sure that the IR LEDs weren't leaking any light from the back of their casings. When I remove the IR LED completely the IR Detectors do not pick up any readings and the debugger reads '0', as it should. I just found it strange that ALL of the IR Detectors, with the exception of three of them, are working.
Do I just need to order more Detectors or is there something else that I have missed? Are these IR Detectors tempermental in house lights that are dim?
Comments
Dave
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Dave Andreae
Parallax Tech Support·
Jax
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If a robot has a screw then it must be romoved and hacked into..
I started to debug it by completely removing both IR detectors and IR Leds and I noticed that one of my PWM cables for the QTI sensors that go on the bottom had been plugged in the wrong way.
I idiotically fixed the problem and reloaded the software, and they both seem to be working fine!
Sorry for the trouble!
Jax
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If a robot has a screw then it must be romoved and hacked into..