Avoid obstacles

Hi guys.

In this lesson, we will see Edison’s ability to avoid obstacles that can be found in front of him in his path.

As we have said, Edison has two infrared transmitters (one on the right and one on the left) and an infrared receiver (in the middle).

But what is an infrared transmitter?

Simply put; it is a light-emitting bulb. Light, but what kind of light?

There are plenty of types of lighting. This particular light is invisible to the human eye. We cannot see it. We know it exists, but our eyes are not capable of seeing it.

So who can see it? The infrared receiver that our robot has, of course.

This combination of the transmitter and the receiver constitutes an obstacle detection sensor.

With this sensor the robot can “see” in the dark, using “invisible light” to detect obstacles and avoid crashes with them.

The barcode found in the accompanying document titled “Resources” activates the program titled as “Avoiding obstacles”.

With this program the robot moves straight and when it encounters  an obstacle,it changes direction and continues the motion, moving away from the obstacle.

Now, let’s make Edison read the barcode:

We place the robot on the right side, pointing the barcode that the robot is going to read...

We press the record button, which is round, three times.

Edison will move straight ahead and will scan the barcode.

Good! We have activated the “Avoiding obstacles” program! Let’s go and see what our robot will do!

We are putting some obstacles in front of Edison to see how it will function in such an environment.

We could use walls made of blocks as obstacles. Be careful! Their height must be at least as much as Edison’s!

Also, a good idea is to make a maze full of obstacles and ask Edison to escape from that.