Jeeperz: Room exploring robot in development

blueroomelectronics said:

You really should look at a small microcontroller, someday your robot will want a brain.

Sharp makes an IR Ranger GP2D120 that could be hooked to a comparator so it would trigger a signal when something is too close.
**broken link removed**

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These are a good line of sensors. I used multiple GP2D12 sensors two years ago in a non-tactile maze robot and the sensors worked perfectly...if only the rest had.

Sharp makes an IR Ranger GP2D120

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I've used these, too, including the longer (to 60cm) version, although I can't recall off-hand what the product number is (I'll look it up if anyone wants it). Just wanted to make a PSA about the resolution: check the graph! Quite fine at closer distances (outside of the initial, useless, close range up to 5cm or so), but gets more coarse closer to the maximum range (30cm) to accuracy not finer than 1cm. For the larger range sensor, the trade-off is in the resolution: twice as coarse over the full range. Also, for either sensor the sample cycle takes about 50ms for a sample rate of 20Hz or so. Not a bad deal if you can get them for $15 each, and should be good for most hobby robots - just don't expect to get very fast or super accurate measurements. Only supplier I know of something faster and finer (and much, much more expensive) is Keyence.

what's the role of a 555 timer in motor control for robots especially for line following robot???

Wow razzler what was the entire point of posting 555 timer in this thread.

x_X sorry...must have typed in the wrong thread...hehe