“Line follower robot are one of the classic project for a robotic enthusiast with self balancing and obstacle avoidance robots. It helps to get acquainted with IR sensors, motor drivers, conditional statements and PID controllers.
So let’s build a line follower robot giving it a spicy touch by making the robot more advance and including 4 wheel drive.
The basic idea is to make the build look more like a F1 car with as possible as low ground clearance.
The chassis
The chassis will be made up of two major parts - one rear and other front. Both of them will be connected in the middle portion using nuts and bolts. A rear wing will be attached to give the build a final touch.
IR sensors
For the robot to know it’s position on the track we will use IR sensors. The more IR sensors we have the more precisely we can know the position. Keeping this in mind we will use QTR-8RC sensor - a array of 8 IR sensors.
The QTR sensor will be installed to the front of the build resembling front wing of an F1 car.
Motor and it’s Driver
As of motor we will be using N20 gear motor 1000rpm 12V - small and robust.
To driver the motors, L293d IC in DIP package is the perfect match.
Wheels
We will be 3D printing the wheels so that we can have custom diameter to fulfill the low ground clearance parameter.
Micro-controller
Arduino Nano is perfect for this build, able to handle PID controller and also not being an overkill.
Power House
3 li-ion batteries in series will be used as power house for the motor as well as micro-controller with voltage stepped down using a buck converter.
Breadboard
2 breadboards will be used to connect everything electrically…Wondering why breadboard and not PCB… Well because breadboard are super cheap than PCBs, no need of permanent connections and can be made look more nicer using jumper routing.”