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My partner and I want to make a line following robot. Problem: How can line following robots be productive in the real world? How can they help to solve a problem?

How can a line following robot solve a problem? Please help!

Hi Marycf614,

Here’s one example that comes to mind. Suppose you have a factory with a warehouse at one end and a machine that makes widgets at the other end. You need to get parts from the warehouse to the widget machine. You could have a line following robot carry the parts from the warehouse to the machine. In fact, this kind of equipment is used in quite a few factories.

I’m sure that you can think of several other ways that line following robots may be useful.

I hope this helps. Please post again if you have more questions.

A. Norman

I'm not sure what you're asking, so I'll answer two interpretations of your question.

1) If you want to know why people make line following robots and what they're good for, the most common example is the mail delivery (or parts delivery) robot in many large companies. It's a wheeled cart that automatically goes from department to department and floor to floor in insurance companies or factories. There's a special wire embedded in the floor or a line painted on the floor. The robot will flow the line to move from one stop to another, dropping off something that someone wants delivered and picking up new stuff. Sometimes a person loads and unloads the robot but sometimes it also has robotic arms that make deliveries. A robot like that can do the work of several people who would otherwise spend all day carrying packages around the building.

2) If you meant 'how does a line following robot solve its own problem', that's really important when it loses track of the line. A simple one like https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p021.shtml has no way of finding the line again and solving the problem of losing it. A computerized one might realize that none of its sensors can see the line so it will stop, back up, turn in place and hunt around a little. Think of it like a dog trying to find a bone it buried. It will smell around in circles looking for some trace of the bone. A line follower can start making circles looking for a line with its sensors and then resume following once it finds it. Those are fun to make and if you try it, please write us and let us know.

Hi, Marcy. Please keep all questions to a single thread so that our experts can best answer your questions based on what has already been discussed.

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