Cricket Arduino Walking Robot, Documentation

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16 – Cricket Robot Documentation
Light Emitting Diodes
Two green LEDs give Cricket the appearance of having eyes. These LEDs blink on and
off under program control. They may be controlled individually.
Feeler Wires and Switches
Once Cricket starts walking around, it doesn't
take long before he will run into something.
Without a way to detect an obstacle he would
get stuck. For this reason, Cricket has long
feelers much like a real cricket has. These
feelers are connected to small switches,
which turn on, when the feeler is pushed. The
Arduino controller checks the switches and if
they are closed, the robot backs up and turns
away from the obstacle. The feelers are quite
flexible and sensitive.
Sonar Sensor
Cricket has a sonar sensor which rotates
using a small hobby servo. Cricket takes
distance measurements in 7 directions.
These 7 measurements are then
compared to find the most unobstructed
direction for Cricket to head.