Making progress

After a couple of frustrating weeks we are starting to get to grips with this robot. The trick, for us at least, is to keep it simple. Last week we had some difficulty with the line following programme. The robot could not operate in the ambient light in the room, it was chucking it down outside and the light in the room was very dim. The result of this was that the robot could not 'see' the green line it was looking for and went off on a random course of its own as it circled round to try and find a green line so it could turn onto the transition table. The result was a devastated table and some puzzled programmers. The dim light also meant that the robot picked up a grey line between base and the gardening patch, thought it was green and turned straight into the woodworking table.

All in all it was a bit of a disaster but it resulted in an important decision to only use the light sensors when absolutely necessary. This might seem obvious but the decision has important consequences. Using the cues on the field mat means you reduce the errors in your programming, so we will loose a good way of keeping the robot on track. It is possible to calibrate the light sensors so the robot can adjust to the ambient light conditions however we are having a little trouble learning how to do this consistently. Sam will still be doing some complex line following for the transition table and medicine bottle tasks but otherwise we will stick to positioning and practice.

We now have 3 tasks programmed and two with an almost complete programme that needs a little tweaking. Overall the whole thing feels a lot better.

The project is almost complete. we will be meeting with our design mentor next Wednesday to make a prototype of our product and then the script can be completed and rehearsed. The team need to perform for an audience as part of the process so we need to get cracking with the acting parts and learning the lines. Then it's practice, practice, practice!!!