Robots and Physical Computing

In the last post experimentation with an artificial neuron controlling the Bit:Bot to follow the edge of a line (it follows the left-hand side of the line). More details can be found in the previous post. The neurons (well two separate ones, S1 and S2) are produced using  weighted sums - summing the  weights x inputs [ right-hand sensor (rs) and left-hand sensor (ls)] plus a bias for each neuron in this case w[0] and w[3].     net=w[0]+w[1]*rs+w[2]*ls           net2=w[3]+w[4]*rs+w[5]*ls If weighted sum >=0 then its output 1 otherwise 0 What actual causes S1 to be either 1 or 0 is all defined by a set of weights w (three for the first neurone, S1,  three for S2). w=[0,-1,1,-1,1,-1] Modifications to the code in the  last post  have been around fine tuning the values in c onverting the outputs of the two neurons S1 and S2 into actions as shown below.     if s1=...

In the   last post I was playing with 4Tronix's   Bit:Bot . In this post I will show the initial experimentation with an artificial neuron controlling the Bit:Bot to follow the edge of a line (it follows the left-hand side of the line). The neurons (well two separate ones, S1 and S2) are produced using weighted sums - summing the weights x inputs [ right-hand sensor (rs) and left-hand sensor (ls)] plus a bias for each neuron in this case w[0] and w[3].                         net=w[0]+w[1]*rs+w[2]*ls           net2=w[3]+w[4]*rs+w[5]*ls   If weighted sum >=0 then its output 1 otherwise 0       if net>=0:          s1=1     else:         s1=0     if net2>=0:         s2=1     else:       ...

In an earlier post I played with 4Tronix's CrumbleBot to make an edge follower robot ( http://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/edge-following-crumblebot.html ). I wanted to play a little more, so I looked at making it 'explore' a room a bit and recently 4Tronix's have released an add-on panning ultrasonic sensor for the CrumbleBot - how can I resist? What is a CrumbleBot The CrumbleBot  (http://4tronix.co.uk/store/index.php?rt=product/product&product_id=493 ) is based around the Redfern Electronic's Crumble Controller ( http://redfernelectronics.co.uk/crumble/ ) and Crumble software ( http://redfernelectronics.co.uk/crumble-software/ ); providing an intuitive graphical interface (similar to Scratch) to control two motors and four inputs/outputs. The CrumbleBot comes with a number sensors including  line-detecting sensors and Light-Dependent Resistors for light detection and you use crocodile clips to connect the sensors to the in...