Race Car: Motor to be triggered by light

daraque25

Hello There

I am new to Micro Controllers and I am currently working on a small race car that needs to be triggered by light. The car will be at the Start Line and once the overhead lamp of a wooden gantry is turned on, the car must take off. Light levels will change after leaving and motor must remain on until another light source is detected 20 feet away. I currently have a kit that contains a Board of Education and a BS2 Stamp. I was planning on using a phototransistor as the sensor that will engage a small dc motor, but i am currently having problems with the code. I do not know where to begin. Any insight will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

Leon

Get the photo-transistor working first - the collector should go low when the light is on if it is connected properly.

Duane Degn

I think "Robotics with the BOE-Bot" version 3 uses phototransitors in its light following chapter. It's available as a free pdf file.

daraque25

Thanks guys. I got the phototransistors working. I used two: one to start under the presence of light and the other to stop. Duane thanks for pointing out the BOE-Bot pdf file. Their programming helped.