Chapter 7. The Bug-Bot

In this chapter you build a robot (the Bug-Bot) that uses bump sensors to navigate around objects and explore a room, much like an insect would. The bump sensor is nothing more than two wires pressed together when the bot bumps into something, to let the Arduino know that it needs to find a new path (Figure 7-1). These sensors are commonly used for object detection but require that the bot have physical contact with the object to detect it. Some robots incorporate several types of sensors for object avoidance and autonomous navigation; these usually include a bump sensor on the front and/or rear of the bot to stop it if the other sensors do not.

Figure 7.1. The visible components of the Bug-bot: three bump sensors on the ...

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