Robot Project I by Douglas Isenberg

I built this robot last year for a science fair project.  
It is really very simple, but has become more complicated as time
went by.  I started with simple bump sensors, as can be seen on 
the front and back.  Later came an optical encoder system,
which can also be seen.  I have added, although not shown, 
another optical circuit that acts as a power switch, to shut the
robot down in a dark area.  I did this only to dabble with 
behavioral processing.  The controller is a BSII.  My code was
mostly based on subroutines, and printed out ranged from 1 
to about 4 pages long.  I only say this because I would like to
know how other people write programs.  Perhaps what I like 
best about the robot is the chasis.  It is standard aluminum stock,
but I took care in making sure it can be adjusted and redesigned.  
For example, the optical encoder hardware can be adjusted
for a thick or thin disk, the gear box can be moved forward or 
backwards, and the sensitivity of the bumpers can be adjusted, 
to name a few.  

My site www.geocities.com/isenbergdoug/isenbergrobotics.html has 
information on other robotic projects I am working on, as well 
as this one.

Email: dri103@psu.edu