Maze Solver 2000
Problem Space
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A physical maze, with walls, seemed impractical to setup for demonstration. So, a line maze, defined with tape, was the best option.
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Wall follower algorithm with left hand rule best fits because it is the simplest algorithm with reasonable efficiency.
The maze solving algorithm for the turtlebot’s first run through the maze was very simple. We used wall following, which we implemented in the context of a line maze by prioritizing turns. We chose to make left turns the highest priority, followed by going straight and then right turns. One of our main objectives was to shorten the robot’s path through the maze on the second attempt. In order to make this happen we had the robot keep track of its path through the maze the first time and cut out some of the wasted exploring for the next go through.
Implementation
Two pairs of infrared lights and infrared sensors are seated in aluminum angle brackets and mounted on the front of the turtlebot base. All four of these components are connected to an Arduino board, which transmits the level of light detected by the sensors to the netbook running the turtlebot.
Algorithm
Hardware
Design Plan
In this project, we attached infrared light detectors and emitters to measure changes in reflection between the ground and the lines to keep the robot following the tape, and enable detection of junctions. Then a Python script running on the robot publishes the values of the left and right sensors to the workstation in control of the robot. This allows the code in charge of robotic motor control to make adjustments to the robot’s direction based on the surfaces it passes over. When the robot gets to the junctions, the robot will decide which way to go after by using the wall follower algorithm applied in the python code.