Overview

Up Overview Prologue Objectives Synopsis Applications Appendix

 

Overview of the Project

The Primary Objective of the project was the development of an autonomous land vehicle with image processing capability ( e.g. make the vehicle follow a white line on a dark background). Also it should possess properties such as inherent collision avoiding capability and avoidance of huge pits preventing the Ant from falling into them. Thus providing a safe navigation through a rough and hostile environment.

The navigation system of the ant consist of two modes of operation.

Path follower mode, in this mode the ant follows a black line that is placed on a dark background.
Free running mode, in this mode it is free running and explores its surroundings detecting obstacles and huge pits and avoiding them in the process.
PATH FOLLOWER MODE :

The SPIRIT of the Ant are the LDR sensors which are used for image processing using which the path that has to be traced is decided . These are efficiently coupled to the comparators and the motor driver of the front wheel. The front wheel motor takes care of the turn and precision control guide the Ant in the appropriate direction. The careful design of each stage account for its outstanding features such as, low power consumption and high performance in tracing the path even at higher running speeds of the Ant. 

FREE RUNNING MODE:

In this mode of operation the Ant is free running and looks out for obstacles in its path and Huge pits and valleys.

Obstruction detector consists basically of whiskers on the front side of the ant and when the whiskers touch against any obstacle it stops reverses as well as turns and takes an alternate path. Thus a collision is avoided.

Similarly the depth detector consists of a moment that is used as a sensor, when the moment moves above a certain angle the motor turns back and finds a new path. The sensor detects a pit of an arbitrarily predefined depth and prevents the ant from falling into it.

Thus exhibiting an inherent ability to intelligently distinguish obstacles and depth.

 

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