Video: LVBots May 2018 line following competition

LVBots held a line following competition at Pololu on May 24th. This time we had our “classic” line following course like in previous competitions, and an “advanced” course with gaps, intersections, tighter turns, and shortcuts. The video above shows the robots in action.

Ben’s Mostly Red Racer won the line following competition for the third time in a row, finishing first on both courses.

Claire and Brandon built two timing devices using an A-Star 32U4 Prime LV microSD with LCD and a VL6180X Time-of-Flight Distance Sensor Carrier with Voltage Regulator, 60cm max. The adjustable structure is made from laser-cut acrylic. The A-Star’s LCD displayed the lap times and total times and the data could potentially be written to a microSD card.

For some of the robots, the timing devices worked great. However, it was having trouble triggering on the very short robots, and the tall robots required adjusting the boom they could pass under. With more tweaking, it might be possible to improve detection reliability!

If you are interested in building one yourself, the details are below.

Line following timer recommended parts list:

• A-Star 32U4 Prime LV microSD with LCD
• VL6180X Time-of-Flight Distance Sensor Carrier with Voltage Regulator, 60cm max
• 3-AA Battery Holder
• Wires with Pre-Crimped Terminals 50-Piece 10-Color Assortment M-F 12"
• 0.1" (2.54mm) Crimp Connector Housing: 1×1-Pin 25-Pack
• 0.1" (2.54mm) Crimp Connector Housing: 1×7-Pin 10-Pack
• Machine Hex Nut: #2-56
• Machine Screw: #2-56, 3/8″ Length, Phillips
• Machine Screw: #2-56, 1/2″ Length, Phillips
• Aluminum Standoff: 1/4" Length, 2-56 Thread, M-F
• 3 rechargeable NiMH AA batteries
• 1/8″ acrylic

The picture above shows male header pins soldered into the A-Star Prime, but to avoid shorts, you should probably use female header pins (like the ones that come soldered on the product linked above). This header choice means the pictured timer also uses F-F pre-crimped wires, while we recommend M-F ones.

The laser cutting design files are available on Thingiverse. The Arduino sketch for the timer uses our VL6180x and AStar32U4 libraries, and is available on GitHub.

Have you had success with making a line following timer? Let us know in the comments below. Are you in the Las Vegas area? Check out the LVBots Meetup page to get involved.

Related products

	A-Star 32U4 Prime LV microSD with LCD (ac03b)
	VL6180X Time-of-Flight Distance Sensor Carrier with Voltage Regulator, 60cm max
	Custom Laser Cutting Service