Worksheet: Obstacle Detection

Introduction to Mobile Robotics > Obstacle Detection

This worksheet is provided for reference only. Be sure that you follow the steps in the online directions, and answer the questions at the appropriate times. Fill out all your answers on a separate sheet of paper.

Construct: Touch Sensor

1. What did the robot do? It went forward but stopped after it hit an obstacle 2. What caused the robot to stop? What caused it to stop was she it hit the wall after running for a little while 3. Do you think its a good idea for the robot to run into obstacles and stop? Yes, this is because it would stop straight after moving, this way if it hit something, it wouldnt keep on going. 4. What are the benefits and drawbacks of this behaviour? The benefits are that it wouldnt keep going if it hit something but the drawback is if it hit something it would stop which could be irritating at times.

5. What did the robot do? The robot stopped 10 centimetres before the object so it wouldnt crash into the item. 6. What caused the robot to stop? What caused the robot to stop is that the block told the robot to stop 10 cm before it hit an object. 7. How far away from the obstacle did the robot stop? It stopped 10 cm before the object because thats how I programmed it. 8. What are the benefits and drawbacks of this behaviour? The benefits are that it doesnt crash into the object but a setback is that it stops too far away from the actual object. 9. How reliable is this sensor as opposed to the touch sensor?

The ultrasonic sensor is very reliable as it is more useful to the certain topic. As for the touch sensor, it crashes into the actual item without stopping. Contemplate

10. Think about the Construct Phase that you just completed and compare using the touch and ultrasonic sensors. What is the main difference between the two programs? The main difference between the two programs is that the touch sensor goes right up towards the object while the ultrasonic sensor goes near it without touching it when it stops. ii. What is the main difference in the robots behaviour when you use each of the different sensors? The main difference between the two sensors is that one is more sensitive (the ultrasonic sensor one) while the other one isnt as much. 11. The ultrasonic sensor allows you to stop before you reach an object, rather than after youve run into it. What are the benefits and drawbacks of this behaviour? The benefits is that it doesnt crash into things which jerks the robot. This way it becomes much smoother and graceful and it could possibly swivel in another direction if we were doing another activity. A drawback on this is that we could have possibly wanted it to touch the exact object making it more accurate. 12. The touch sensor only has two settings, pressed and not pressed. The ultrasonic sensor, on the other hand, can sense any distance between 0 and 200 centimetres. i.

i.

Why do you need to set a threshold level for the ultrasonic sensor, but not for the touch sensor? The ultrasonic sensor needs to know when to stop but as for the

touch sensor, it will stop whenever it touches/hits something that

blocks its way.
ii. What happens to the robots behaviour as you change that threshold level for the ultrasonic sensor? What happens to the robots behaviour is that it wont be suitable for the actual sensor as the threshold is particularly for that certain sensor, if you change it that means that it wouldnt pick things up as well as it would with its original threshold.

Continue: Detecting Everyday Objects

Observations:

13. What does the sensor show when it has difficulty detecting anything? The sensor shows it by not picking everything up that it needs to and just keeps going past everything. 14. Does the shape or curvature of an object make a difference? No as long as it is a solid, and is standing there. 15. Does the sensor detect soft or hard objects better? Why do you think this is? The sensor seems to detect harder objects better. This is because it seems to pick up on things more accurate as it is more solid. 16. What is the smallest object detected? It doesnt necessarily pick up small objects. 17. Does the sensor detect thin objects well? No it didnt, as it was too thin. 18. Turn the sensor 90 degrees on its side so it is positioned upright. Does it detect thin objects better now? Yes it does as it seems to be more upright and is able to detect things better.