I am a newbie in programming and I just got the Pololu 3pi robot recently. I am trying to make it follow a blue line. Is that possible? And how about following a white line on a blue background?
Thanks =D
Hello.
The 3pi’s line sensors work by emitting infrared (IR) light and detecting how much of that is reflected back from the ground beneath the sensor. Light surfaces tend to reflect more IR (and visible light) than dark surfaces. As long as your line is thick enough and there is a significant difference between the IR reflected by your course and the IR reflected by the line, the 3pi should be able to detect and follow the line. I expect it will work with a blue line on a white background (and vice versa), and it should be very easy to test. You can write a simple program to print what the line sensors are seeing to the LCD, or you can just use the sensors part of the demo program that the 3pi ships with. Another option is to load our sample line-following program and see if it works on your course.
For more information on how the 3pi’s sensors work, see section 5.d of the 3pi user’s guide.
Please let me know if you have any questions. I’m interested to hear how it works out.
- Ben