Courses/Robotics 101/Fear of the Darkness

In this session you will be learning how to use analogue sensors and will be tasked with building and programming a photovore, a robot that actively seeks out the light.

Lesson Summary

If in doubt or unfamiliar with anything, approach our eager and friendly instructors! They'll love to help you understand!

Task

Have your robot avoid shadows and follow lights. Below you can watch the fourth session of the Robotics 101 course held in term 1, 2013/2014, taught by Thomas Clayson:

Preparation for this lesson:

• Have a completed and functional robot.
• Understand C++ syntax and how to program the mbed.

By the end of this lesson:

• Installed a light sensor to your robot.
• Learnt the basics of how to use analogue data.

Lesson Material

Tutorials

These are written tutorials that we highly recommend you check out before the session.

• Light-dependant resistors - Explains how light-dependant resistors work and how to wire them up
• Mbed Using Sensors - Explains how to use sensors with the mbed microcontroller
• Light Sensing Robot - Helps programming for a light sensing robot

Video Tutorials

The following is a list of video tutorials that will help explain some of the new concepts you will face in the robotics course.

• LEDs - Explains how LED's work and how to wire them up
• Photovore Robot Video - Video demonstration of a light sensing robot being lead around with a flash-light.

Other Material

We recommend that if you have time, you should look through these materials to gain further understanding before the hands-on session.

• Light Dependent Resistor - Wikipedia - Thorough documentation on light dependent resistors.
• Photoresistor - SocietyofRobots.com - Scroll down on this site to find out how to wire a photoresistor for a microcontroller

Instructors

The following is a list of instructors involved in the robotics course. Please feel free to contact them if you have any questions.

Instructor	Email
Yoshimasa Sano	yoshimasa.sano13@imperial.ac.uk