I.

Introduction

Robotics has achieved its greatest success to date in the world of industrial
manufacturing. Robots are the part of our life in fields like research, development, medicine,
and defense. They have simplified our job to great extent and provided efficient, reliable and
safe mode of working hands to human beings. Due to robotics, men are now able to perform
distant operations. Mobile robots are robots with a mobile base which makes the robot move
freely in the environment Mobile robots have become more common in commercial and
industrial settings. Industrial and technical applications of mobile robots are continuously gaining
in importance, in particular under considerations of reliability, accessibility or cost. One of the
advanced mobile robots is the Line Follower.
A line follower is a robot that is capable of navigating in which it is designed to follow a
line or path already predetermined by the user. This line or path may be as simple as a
physical white line on the floor or as complex path marking schemes e.g. embedded lines,
magnetic markers and laser guide markers. In order to detect these specific markers or lines,
various sensing schemes can be employed. These schemes may vary from simple low cost line
sensing circuit to expansive vision systems. The choice of these schemes would be dependent
upon the sensing accuracy and flexibility required.
Basically, a line-following robot is a self-operating robot that detects and follows a line
drawn on the floor. The path to be taken is indicated by a white line on a black surface. The
control system used must sense the line and maneuver the robot to stay on course while
constantly correcting the wrong moves using feedback mechanism, thus forming a simple yet
effective closed- loop system. The basic operations of the line follower are as follows: Capture
line position with optical sensors mounted at front end of the robot. Most are using several
number of photo-reflectors, and some leading contestants are using an image sensor for image
processing. The line sensing process requires high resolution and high robustness. Steear robot
to track the line with any steearing mechanism. This is just a servo operation, any phase
compensation will be required to stabilize tracking motion by applying digital PID filter or any
other servo argolithm. Control speed according to the lane condition. Running speed is limited
during passing a curve due to friction of the tire and the floor. This system can be of great use in
large industries where goods are needed to transport along a predefined path, thereby
increasing the productivity and efficiency of the industries and could be helpful in enhancing the
research work in space technology.
The line follower uses interfaces for the sensors to make the behavior of the robot as
versatile as possible. Two light detectors are mounted at the front of the robot. It uses the
principle of reflected light, so it can differentiate the color, black and white. If the light falls on a
white surface, it gets reflected but when it falls on black surface, it will completely get absorbed
by the surface. The LDR (Light Dependent Resistance) acts as a sensor which senses the
reflected light i.e. transmitted light by LED. If the sensor is placed on a white surface, the DC

motor is turned on while in black surface, it will be turned off and the robot will move accordingly.
The table below shows how the robot senses its position on the line:

LEFT SENSOR

RIGHT SENSOR

POSITION

HIGH

HIGH

ON THE LINE

HIGH

LOW

LOW

HIGH

OFF THE LINE, LEFT

SIDE OF THE LINE
OFF THE LINE, RIGHT
SIDE OF THE LINE

Table 1

Basically, the line follower is divided into four sections: Input system, Processing system,
Controlling System and the Output system.

Input system

The input system is nothing but eyes, which will observe or detect the things around and
will send signal to the brain accordingly. Similarly, in line following robots we need to have such
eyes to detect the surface and once the type of surface is detected, it should send the signal to
the brain. Basically the input system comprises of sensors which will act as eyes and will sense
the surface that comes in its vicinity. Sensor is part of the robot that functions convert physical
quantities into electrical quantity (which distinguishes black and white). There are several types
of
sensors
used
in
line
follower
robot,
such
as
proximity, photodiodeinfrared, phototransistor, LDR-LED, etc. The sensors should be capable of detecting black or
white line. If the sensor on the light colored objects, the light will be reflected while if it is on the
dark object, the light will be absorbed.

Processing System

Processing system is the brain which will take decisions depending on the input from the
eyes. The processing system is usually comprised of either Comparator or Microcontroller. So,
once after the surface is detected by the sensors (eyes), a signal is sent to the processing
system (brain) which could be a comparator or microcontroller. Depending on this signal the
processing system will take decisions whether the robot should move right or left.

Controlling System

The controlling system is something that will help us to drive our robot in a systematic
way. Basically controlling system is a group of electronic components like resistor, transistor,

diodes, LEDs etc. which are connected in such a way that they will give us desired output. So
when the decision is taken by the processing system, it will send out signals to the controlling
system and the controlling system in turn will control the motion of the robot at the output.

Output System

The output system usually consists of motors and wheels that will help my robot to move
through black or white line. Motor will move in accordance with the logic generated by the
comparator, so that the robot can follow the line.

Table 2 shows the advantages and disadvantages of a line follower.

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

Robot movement is automatic.

Fit and Forget system.

about 1 or 2 inches in width on a white

Used for long distance applications.

surface.

Defense applications.

Used in home, industrial automation.

Cost effective.

Simplicity of building.

Line following robot follows a black line

Line tracing robots are simple robots with

an additional sensors placed on them.

It always needs a path to run either white

or black since the IR rays should reflect
from the particular path.

Slow speed and instability on different line

thickness or hard angles.

Table 2

Applications

Line followers are widely used in various fields of application. Some areas of use are listed
below:

Industrial Applications: These robots can be used as automated equipment carriers in

industries replacing traditional conveyer belts. An example might be in a warehouse where
the robots follow 'tracks' to and from the shelves they stock and retrieve from. Line followers
can also be used to deliver mail within an office building and deliver medications in a
hospital. In this environment, these robots functions as materials carrier to deliver products
from one manufacturing point to another where rail, conveyor and gantry solutions are not
possible

Automobile applications: These robots can also be used as automatic cars running on
roads with embedded magnets. The technology has been suggested for running buses and
other mass transit systems, and may end up as part of autonomous cars navigating the
freeway.

Domestic applications: These can also be used at homes for domestic purposes like
floor cleaning etc.

Guidance applications: These can be used in public places like shopping malls,
museums etc to provide path guidance. The line follower can be used in guidance system
for industrial robots moving on shop floor.

Defense applications: A line follower robot can be used in military as spy kids or in
many other applications