Built: 1998-10-10 00:00:00
FollowBot
This was my first robot. A remote control car and some simple electronics acting as a primitive sensor.

Specs

Chassis: A Radio Shack $5.00 remote control car. Duct Tape. Electrical Tape.
Power: 3 separate power sources (batteries). I just wanted it to do a few things. So I have 1.5V for the IR LED, 1.5V for the motor, and 3V for the detector circuit and relay.

I am sure this circuit could have been designed better, but it was my first one, so don\'t hold that against me
Movement: 1 motor & gear from car.
Sensors: 1 Hi-Output IR LED\'s from Radio Shack and 1 Photo-transistor.
CPU/OS: None.
Other Info: Reactive. See something remove power from the motor. I used a white sheet of paper since it provided the best reflective material for the IR LED.
Software Info: None.

Other Robot Info

FollowBot does 1 thing. It follows a piece of paper in a line until it runs into the paper. That's it. It consist of:
  • Remote Control Car
  • Small circuit (IR LED, IR Phototransistor, Relay)
  • 3 Batteries for power

This was my first robot ever. (if you can call it that) Yes, it looks like a wreck. It looks like I literally ripped apart the car ($5.00) from Radio Shack and then put it together with duct tape.

I wanted to add a sensor to the robot so I created a primitive IR detection system that operates at about 5 inches. Because it is not modulated it is affected by strong light sources. This system consist of a IR LED and an IR photo transistor. I connected the two to a relay that either turned on the power or off the power to the motors.