Line Following Robots

Start with the challenge

Robot Challenges is a starting point for line following. Its mind map brings together color data from a robot sensor and decisions about turning. It also includes avoiding obstacles and moving objects, so students can see line following as part of a wider robot challenge.

Next, open Robot to explore task requirements and criteria. Its map includes intersection markers for avoiding breaks in a path, as well as moving obstacles. Compare those ideas with the decisions in Robot Challenges to see what a robot may need to do along a course.

Explore sensors and decisions

The mind map called Task includes sensors, software and ports. It lists color, ultrasonic, gyro and touch sensors, alongside ideas such as code and connectivity. Use it to identify the sensor information a robot might use, then return to Robot Challenges and look at how color data relates to turning.

The flowchart LOL presents line following as a sequence of checks, including whether the robot can follow a line and go around corners. Follow the branches and compare them with the ideas in the mind maps. The different formats offer ways to look at the same challenge: maps gather related points, while the flowchart sets out a sequence.

Look at the task as a whole

The Task brings together requirements, existing solutions, constraints and limitations. The notes on the digital solution task also cover equipment, software, user needs and a procedure, including line following and detecting and avoiding an object. These resources give school students and teachers material for discussing the task beyond the line-following decision itself.

Line Following Robots is a section of the Robotics unit in Engineering and technology (general or other). Its resources connect sensor choices, task requirements and robot behavior within that unit. Explore a mind map, then use the flowchart to trace a possible sequence of decisions.