Snake follower (Line follower)

[Vermes]

The construction consists of the following components:

• a robot made of LEGO bricks Technics (using electric motors, Power Function series)
• electronics system: DS89c450, module BTM222, L29D to control the motors, MAX603/604 to the voltage regulation
• phone HTC Diamond, which camera is used to analyze the path

In brief it works like this:

• phone lays on the robot and takes pictures of the underside
• analyzes the image and sends it through BT commands to the system
• DS89c450 receives commands (RS232 via BTM222) and sets the proper fulfillment on the pins that control the motors (PWM programmable implemented using a timer)

Operating parameters (speed, line detection algorithm parameters) are configurable in the application running on the phone, so they can be quickly modified when it turns out that something is wrong (such as lighting conditions are different, etc.). The program can detect dark lines on a light background and vice versa.
The whole is powered from two sources: -4 x AA battery for engines and 9V battery for the system.



Link to original thread (video) – Snake follower (aka Line Follower)