Project 3: More Musclewire

In this project we extended the last experiment from project 2. We wanted to make a robot which would react to light stimulus. To this end, we created 2 similar legs as can be seen in the following image.

To make the robot react, we used the Lego Mindstorms <insert link here> control module which Bryce programmed for us. The blue blocks are light sensors which when there is an imbalance between the amounts of light on both sides or the same amount, but above a certain threshhold, the legs contract and push the robot away. We tried to make the robot move the sensors, but the control box is just too heavy, so we moved it offboard. This is definitely a design flaw that can easily be corrected by using a lighter controller. We also found that on the carpet, the robot had a tendency to get its legs stuck, and on smooth surfaces, it liked to just slip, so we added some tape feet to it and that fixed the problem with the smooth surfaces. We also decided to add some wheels to the original design to aid in its movement. I think that with the lightweight frame shown, we could have gotten away without them, but it definitely made our lives a little easier.