Project 5: LDR Line Following Robot

Design a Line Following Robot using a Light

Dependant Resistor (LDR)

Learning Outcome

This project gives the user a hands-on experience on how to use ezCircuit Designer (ezCD),
CoreChart and the eLab16m to design, build, document and program a “Line Following
Robot”.

The aim is to encourage the user to design other PIC microcontroller electronic projects.

A typical example: a team of Secondary students used ezCircuit Designer (ezCD), CoreChart
and eLab16m to design, build, document and program a touch pad device for autistic children
to communicate through an i-pod.

Equipment for workshop

Computer
PC running Windows 2000 SP4 or higher with USB connections

Software
• Microsoft .NET Framework V2 ( Required to run ezCircuit Designer )
• ezCircuit Designer
• CoreChart
• Microsoft Word

Hardware
• eLab16m Controller Board
• eLabtronics USBP Programmer with USB Cable

LDR Line Following Robot Parts and Tools

• Small flat head screwdriver

• eRacer Mechanical Base with 4x AA Alkaline Batteries
( eRacer robot Base Assembly instructions are available in the ezCD CD)
• Pre-built: LDR light sensor circuit for the eLab16m board
• Soldering Iron and solder for construction if required

1 Project 5: LDR Line Following Robot

Line Following Robot
Building a robot is no longer rocket science. With only one LDR (Light Dependant Resistor)
and two motors, a simple robot can be built to follow a line.

Step 1: Select eLab16m Template

The Line Following Robot is developed using the eLab16m board. The PIC16F819 chip on
the board will be programmed by the user to form the brain of the robot.

a. Start up “ezCircuit Designer”. If a different project is displayed click on the following

drop down menu to find eLab16m template: “File”, “Open”, “ezCircuit”, “Examples”
and “eLab16m”.
The “eLab16m” template should look like figure 1.1

figure 1.1
Step 2: Create Documents

a. In the main menu, click on “Documentation”, “Create Document” and select

“Specification”.

figure 2.1
2 Project 5: LDR Line Following Robot
 b. Fill in “Introduction”, “Functional Requirement” and “Requirements Specification
Rationale” as follows:

Introduction: The aim of this project is to build a line/light following robot.

Functional Requirement: The Line Following Robot uses a light sensor to detect the colors
of the line and two motors to move the robot along the line. The Robot needs to be powered
from the Robot base and not an external battery pack.
Requirements Specification Rationale: Learn to build and program a Line Following
Robot with the eLab16m board, a light sensor and two DC motors.

NOTE: Please save the program regularly.

Step 3: Add Light Dependant Resistor (LDR)

a. Select the “Light Dependant Resistor (LDR)” icon in the “Circuit Groups”.
b. Ensure “Active High” in “Circuit Typess” sub-menu is selected and then click on pin
17 (A0) of the chip diagram.
c. Right click “LDR17” box and click Rename. Change “LDR17” to “LightSensor”.

figure 3.1

3 Project 5: LDR Line Following Robot

The LDR Circuit Diagram is available from ezCircuit Designer. To view the circuit diagram
right click on the newly named “LightSensor” box. Then click on “View Circuit Diagram”.

NOTE: This is an Active High Circuit.

figure 3.2

It is important to get familiar with the concept of Active High and Active Low circuits.

To return from the circuit diagram to the main screen, go to the top right corner and click the
drop menu to find “Main” to return to the main page.

Alternatively click the “backward” arrow to return to the main page.

figure 3.3

4 Project 5: LDR Line Following Robot

Step 4: Rename Motors

In the template the “Motor Drivers” are connected to pin 10, 11, 15 & 16.

a. Rename the Motor Drivers” as shown in Table 1 and figure 4.1. This will make
programming easier to follow.

Pin to Change Renamed to

Driver_B (B4) Motor1Forward
Driver_D (A6) Motor2Forward
Table 1: Rename Motor Driver Pins

figure 4.1

The Line Following Robot design is now complete.

b. Go to the ezCircuit Designer “File” menu and click “Save as…”. Save the template
name as “LineFollower”.

c. Generate CoreChart test program to test the hardware. Click on “Options” and then
click “Send to CoreChart”.
Alternatively click on the CoreChart icon in the ezCircuit Designer menu bar.

figure 4.2

5 Project 5: LDR Line Following Robot

Step 5: Hardware Connection

Note: This project uses the battery power source from the robot base, not the battery pack
that comes with the eLab16m.
a. Plug the white 3 pin power connector that comes from the robot base into the white
socket labeled “BAT” on the eLab16m.
b. Plug in the two 2 pin motor connectors as shown in figure 5.1.
c. Note that the first column of “header” pins next to the “labels” are connected to the
“negative rail”, the middle column of pins are connected to the “positive rail” and the
inner most column of pins are the “signal” pins as shown in the “KEY”.

KEY

figure 5.1 Motor1 = Black A6 + Red B5

Motor2 = Black B4 + Red A7

Connect the Light Dependant Resistor (LDR) sensor as shown below. Use heat-shrink to
cover the edges of the LDR to vary the sensitivity of the LDR.

The LDR Circuit Diagram is available from ezCircuit Designer. Right click on the LDR box
connected to the PIC chip, then click on “View Circuit Diagram”. To return to the Main
page, click on the “Backward” arrow on the top right corner.

figure 5.2

6 Project 5: LDR Line Following Robot

Step 6: Test Hardware with CoreChart test program

The CoreChart test program should look like figure 6.1.

a. Save the CoreChart test program as “LineFollower”.

figure 6.1

b. Plug in the USB cable to the computer. Connect the USBP programmer to the
eLab16m. Turn on the eLab16m power. Send the CoreChart test program to the chip.

The test program will test all the outputs on the project.

c. When the program is successfully downloaded to the chip, unplug the USBP
programmer from the eLab16m.

d. Press and release the reset push button switch on the eLab16m to start the program.

e. One of the motors will spin clockwise for few seconds and the other will spin in a
counter clockwise direction.

f. The Yellow LED will flash once.

7 Project 5: LDR Line Following Robot

Step 7: Modify program to test the Light sensor

a. Delete icon 3 and icon 4 in the

test program shown on figure 6.1.

b. Insert the “Again” LABEL icon

3.

c. The program does not allow icon

4, a “Decision” icon, to be inserted just
before the “END MAIN” icon because
this will create a logical error.

Reason: If the “Decision” is a “YES”

before “END MAIN” icon then the
program will stop. If the “Decision” is a
“NO” then the program will point past
“END MAIN” which causes a program
error.
Please refer to NOTE: Use of “Decision”
icons below for further details.

d. The correct CoreChart

programming procedure is to insert icon
5 first and then insert the “Decision”
icon 4.

e. Save the program and send to

chip.

f. Before running the program,

ensure the LDR sensor is correctly
connected to the eLab16m. (As shown in
Step 5, figure 5.2)

g. Switch on the power on

eLab16m and press the reset push button
once to start the program.

figure 7.1 h. Direct the sensor towards a light

source and then cover the sensor. Check
the response of the Yellow LED. It
should turn on and off with the changes
of light intensity.

8 Project 5: LDR Line Following Robot

 NOTE: Use of “Decision” icons

• A “Decision” icon CANNOT be placed before a “LABEL” icon e.g. the “Again”
icon. It must be placed BEFORE an “instruction” icon.

REASON:
The reason is that if the “Decision” is a “YES” before a “LABEL” icon the
program will skip the “LABEL” because it is NOT an instruction. If the
“Decision” is a “NO” then the program will also skip to the icon after the
“LABEL”. This is a logical error because the “Decision” cannot make a decision.

• CoreChart also does not allow two “Decision” icons to be placed one after the
other because this will create a logical error between YES or NO decisions in the
two “Decision” icons.

Step 8: Add Subroutines

Add in subroutines “RIGHT” and “LEFT”.

a. Click on the Edit drop menu and click on “Subroutines…”
b. Type “LEFT” in the text entry box then click on “Add Subroutine”
c. Repeat this for “RIGHT” subroutine.
d. Click “Close” when finished

figure
9 8.1 Project 5: LDR Line Following Robot
Step 9: Build Line Following Program

Edit the Main Program to as follows.

a. Replace the “YellowLED” icons with the new subroutines as in figure 9.1 and save
program.

The robot travels along a line or the edge of a piece of paper by the following process:
The robot moves right when the LightSensor is OFF and moves left when the LightSensor is
ON.

figure 9.1

10 Project 5: LDR Line Following Robot

STEP 10: Build the Subroutines

a. Double click on the subroutine “LEFT” and add icons as shown in figure 10.1.
b. Repeat for subroutine “RIGHT” and add icons as shown in figure 10.1.

The “LEFT” subroutine makes the robot turn left and the “RIGHT” subroutine makes the
robot turn right.

SUBROUTINE “LEFT” SUBROUTINE “RIGHT”

figure 10.1

The “LDR Line Following Robot” program is now complete.

c. Save the program as “Linefollower_ROBOT” and then send to chip.

d. Press the reset push button switch on the eLab16m board to start the program.

e. Take a piece of white paper and place it on a dark surface. Then place the robot on
the edge of the paper. Finally, position the light sensor to face the floor. The robot
follows the “line” or the edge of the paper.

END OF Project 5: LDR Line Following Robot

11 Project 5: LDR Line Following Robot