line following on different surfaces

sukittrebek

I want to line follow on different surfaces with my boe. Tile and carpet, and the two surfaces are different colors. Is this possible to do and if so what line follower kit should i purchase.

Jessica Uelmen

Hi sukittrebek,

How different are the colors of your tile and carpet? This will affect which line following kit is best for you.

For example, the QTI Line Follower Kit can be used as an analog sensor to detect shades of gray. So if the two surfaces are close in color, this may be a better option.

However, the Infrared Line Follower Kit can only be used as a digital sensor. The frequency can be adjusted to detect different colored lines, however, one surface should still be very close to white in order for the sensor to work best.

Hope this helps, let us know if you have any other questions!

Cheers,
Jessica

Martin_H

Something to consider. An analog line sensor can be used for more than just line following. Imagine you have a surface with a gradient that is white on one side and slowly fades to black on the other. By measuring the shade of grey the robot can then tell where it is on the gradient. By measuring two points in succession it can tell which direction it is traveling.

I've also seen two point attractor gradients. They are hard to describe, but you can think of them as concentric circles from light to dark. They can be used to allow a robot to home in on an origin point.