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PiWars Proximity alert

06/09/2015 by Brian

In my last post, I compared different ways how to control your

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robot, in this post I will be sharing my experiences for selecting

the sensors and method for controlling my robot for the PiWars
challenge Proximity Alert. So what is Proximity Alert challenge
about?heres a quote about it from the PiWars website,

Your robot will proceed autonomously from a start

line and will use sensor(s) to prevent hitting a
wooden wall 1.5 metres away. It will do this a total of

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3 times. After each approach and stop, you will

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retrieve your robot and carry it to the start line. No

part of the robot is permitted to touch the wall, so

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tactile sensors feeling the wall would constitute a

failure.

from the above quote, rules out using a tactile sensor, so using a
micro switch and/or pressure sensor is not possible, so that
leaves the choice of using a range finder sensor, measuring the
distance your robot travelled from the start line ( Dead
reckoning ) or image processing. The below methods, dont allow
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for drift. Drift is where your robot will not move in a straight line,
and is caused by at least one or all of the following; poorly
matched motors, surface conditions, an uneven surface and
wheels slipping. First let go over the pros and cons of each
method and types of sensors.

Method: Image Processing

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showing position of laser pointers, camera. plus positions of a
robot approaching the wall and final position.

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One method using image processing is to project two dots on the

wall and stop the robot when they converge (posh way of saying
join), in my opinion, the two dot method is the most easiest to
program and the less intensive for image processing. why two
dots? The light sources (laser pointers are good for this) for the
dots must be angled, so when the dots converge they are the
apex of a triangle of a known size, therefore possible to calculate
the distance the robot is away from the base line by using
Pythagoras theorem.
Pros: lasers, did I say LASERS, accuracy and repeatability
Cons: high use of the CPU. keeping alignment of the lasers, not
easy to adjust on the fly, cost lasers pointer and camera to buy,
and programing could be tricky if you have not using image
processing techniques before.

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Method: Dead Reckoning

For dead reckoning, you start measuring from the start line and
stop when the robot has reached the set distance from the start
line, I can think of two sensors for measuring the distance you
have traveled from the start line, wheel/motor encoders or a
hacked computer mouse. for each of the sensors for dead
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reckoning, I have stated that repeatability is an issue, the reason

for this, is that the robot must be place with a high degree of
accuracy on the start line.

Sensor: Encoder

Pololu wheel encoders

An encode will tell how many turns or part turns the motor has
turned and in which direction. The major con with encoders are if
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the wheel slips during your run, you will lose accuracy
pros: cost, simple to program, you may already be using
encoders for the 3-point turn challenge
cons: accuracy, repeatability for increased accuracy you may
need to use an arduino or some other microcontroller

Sensor: Hacked Computer Mouse

Hacked Computer Mouse sensor

A hacked computer mouse should over come the issue of wheel
sliping therefore increasing accuracy, see this guilde on
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instructables for more imformation and how to hack a

mouse http://www.instructables.com/id/Optical-MouseOdometer-for-Arduino-Robot/
pros: increased accuracy over encoders
cons: cost, repeatability, possible requirement for
a microcontroller

Method: Range Finding

there are a number of range finding sensors, and broken into 2
basic types, sound and light. as with most things, the more you
pay the higher the accuracy will be. range sensor methods
accuracy is not affected by its start position

Sensor: Sound (Ultrasonic)

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ultrasonic range sensor

The Ultrasonic sensor is used a lot in robots, for the following
reasons, it is cheap and has good range , examples can be found
for less that a few pounds. ModMyPi have a good guide on using a
common type of sensor. http://www.modmypi.com/blog/hc-sr04ultrasonic-range-sensor-on-the-raspberry-pi
pros: cost, not affected by the ambient light conditions or colour
of the object, simple to adjust on the fly in programing, wide
target area, doe need an analog to digital
converter/microcontroller.
cons:ghosting from objects around target. sound absorbing
obstacles affect accuracy, wide target area.

Sensor: Light ( IR sensor)

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Sharp IR range sensor

The main reason for using an IR sensor is the small target area
and the accuracy of the sensor. For my robots I selected the
Sharp sensors, they come in a number of distance and outputs
types, for Proximity alert, I have selected a 4 cm to 20 cm sensor
that outputs an analog voltage proportional to the distance from
the target. Another plus point for the Sharp sensors is that they
are generally not affected by the ambient light levels.
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pros: small target area, not affected by ghosting, simple

programing
cons: accuracy can be affected by ambient light levels, and the
colour of the object, you will also need an analog to digital
converter/microcontroller to read values from the sensor.

My Solution

Adafruit ADS1015 ADC breakout

As you may guessed, I selected the Sharp IR sensor for my robot,
currently just using one, I may add a second to counter drift. lets
start with hardware.
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Sharp IR sensor model 0A41SK F 46

Adafruit ADS1015 ADC convertor breakout board
you can find both items on makersify.com the sister site of
thepihut.com
you will need to connect the Sharp sensor, Adafruit ADC and
Raspberry Pi like the diagram below, you can click on it to make
the image larger.

Wiring details of Sharp sensor and Adafruit ADS1015 ADC

convertor
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Now onto software, we will be using the command line.

first of all download the Adafruit python libraries and CD to the
Adafruit ADS1x15 folder by entering the following

git clone https://github.com/adafruit/AdafruitRaspberry-Pi-Python-Code.git

cd Adafruit-Raspberry-Pi-PythonCode/Adafruit_ADS1x15/

Test the sensor by running the example

ads1x15_ex_singleended.py by entering

sudo python ads1x15_ex_singleended.py

and you should see a reading from the sensor as below

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The above has proved that the sensor and ADC board are
connected and working OK.
Lets run through the problem for stopping the robot from hitting
the wall.
1. start moving robot
2. check the sensor and stop robot if target has been been
reached
and using simple pseudo code

START MOTORS
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READ SENSOR
IF SENSOR VALUE <= TARGET THEN STOP MOTORS

I need to expand the pseudo code to show the control loop.

SENSOR VALUE = 0
TARGET = 10cm
SET MOTORS TO 10%
WHILE SENSOR VALUE <= TARGET
READ SENSOR
STOP MOTORS

now for the python code, I just showing the control loop, and not
included the setting up of the Adafruit ADS1015 ADC

stopValue = 0.8
volts = 0
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try:
volts = adc.readADCSingleEnded(0, gain, sps) / 1000 # read the sensor
while volts < stopValue:
DIABLO.SetMotors(-0.1) # set the both motor to 10% in reverse
volts = adc.readADCSingleEnded(0, gain, sps) / 1000 # read the sensor
print(volts)
print "%.6f" % (volts)
time.sleep(0.01) # pause the loop for 1/100 of a second.
except KeyboardInterrupt:
# User has pressed CTRL+C
DIABLO.MotorsOff()
# Turn both motors off
print 'Ctl C been pressed'
DIABLO.MotorsOff()
# Turn both motors off
print 'Stop!!!!'

if you have read the above code, I dont start the motors until, the
distance has been check first, just in case the code is running
when the robot is next to the wall, we dont want it hit wall by
accident. I have updated the pseudo code to show this.

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SENSOR VALUE = 0
TARGET = 10cm
WHILE SENSOR VALUE <= TARGET
SET MOTORS TO 10%
READ SENSOR
STOP MOTORS

and the full code is here, including setting up the Adafruit ADC
breakout board

#!/usr/bin/env python
# coding: Latin-1
# Stop robot from hitting wall!
# Import library functions we need
import Diablo
import time, signal, sys
from Adafruit_ADS1x15 import ADS1x15
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ADS1015 = 0x00 # 12-bit ADC

ADS1115 = 0x01 # 16-bit ADC
# Select the gain
# gain = 6144 # +/- 6.144V
gain = 4096 # +/- 4.096V
# gain = 2048 # +/- 2.048V
# gain = 1024 # +/- 1.024V
# gain = 512 # +/- 0.512V
# gain = 256 # +/- 0.256V
# Select the sample rate
# sps = 8 # 8 samples per second
# sps = 16 # 16 samples per second
# sps = 32 # 32 samples per second
# sps = 64 # 64 samples per second
# sps = 128 # 128 samples per second
sps = 250 # 250 samples per second
# sps = 475 # 475 samples per second
# sps = 860 # 860 samples per second
# Initialise the ADC using the default mode (use default I2C address)
# Set this to ADS1015 or ADS1115 depending on the ADC you are using!
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adc = ADS1x15(ic=ADS1115)
# Setup the Diablo
DIABLO = Diablo.Diablo()
# Create a new Diablo object
DIABLO.Init()
# Set the board up (checks the board is connected)
DIABLO.ResetEpo()
# Reset the stop switch (EPO) state
# if you do not have a switch across the two pin header then fit the jumper

# Loop over the sequence until the user presses CTRL+C

print 'Press CTRL+C to finish'
#Start motors running
stopValue = 0.8
volts = 0
try:
volts = adc.readADCSingleEnded(0, gain, sps) / 1000 # read the sensor
while volts < stopValue:
DIABLO.SetMotors(-0.1) # set the both motor to 10% in reverse
volts = adc.readADCSingleEnded(0, gain, sps) / 1000 # read the sensor
print(volts)
print "%.6f" % (volts)
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time.sleep(0.01) # pause the loop for 1/100 of a second.

except KeyboardInterrupt:
# User has pressed CTRL+C
DIABLO.MotorsOff()
# Turn both motors off
print 'Ctl C been pressed'
DIABLO.MotorsOff()
# Turn both motors off
print 'Stop!!!!'

Im thinking about adding a second sensor to address the drifting

issues with using a second sensor.

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One thought on PiWars Proximity alert

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