14/04/2020
Autonomous vehicle version-3 is here! This vehicle also follows a black curved line marked on the floor but with a difference.
Now...what's the difference? The difference is that left or right turn is not achieved by relative speed difference between the two servo motors. The vehicle has a single servo motor that drives the rear axle, so the drive speed is constant. Then what happens at the turns? This vehicle has an universal gear block (for governing the speed of rotations between the two rear wheels during left or right turn encountered along the track).
The front wheels are connected to a steering gear block. Two light sensors read the intensity of the rebound light (that is reflected off the black and white surfaces) then the control unit measures the intensity of light, feeds the value and controls the servomotor (the number turns and direction of rotations), thus enabling the vehicle go straight or turn left or right.
However, due to the length of the model there has been a bit of time lag (between the Sensors and steering drive motor). I was able to tweak this by adding a time lag sequence for the rear wheel drive. The problem is not completely resolved, but the result is nice and different. The Robot wanders a bit off course (at the turns) and then comes back to the line. In-retrospect, this is not a problem..it is matter of acceptance! Following a chosen line by no means lead to exploring new ideas! In life, wandering a bit close to the line but not lost seems good!
