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light sensor "sees white" then we know it is left of the line's edge (and the line). If it "sees black" then we know it is to the right of the line's edge (and on the line). This is called a "left hand line follower" since it is following the line's left edge

We need to know what values the light sensor returns when it "sees white" and when it "sees black". A typical uncalibrated sensor might give a "white" reading of 50 and a "black" reading of 40 (uncalibrated, on a 0 to 100 scale). It is convenient to draw the values on a simple number line to help visualize how we convert light sensor values into changes in the robot's movement.

Below are our made up light values for white and black.

While Roomba is cleaning, it avoids steps (or any other kind of drop-off) using four infrared sensors on the front underside of the unit. These cliff sensors constantly send out infrared signals, and Roomba expects them to immediately bounce back. If it's approaching a cliff, the signals all of a sudden get lost. This is how Roomba knows to head the other way

Roomba can clean for about two hours on a single charge. If you have the self-charger, Roomba will return and connect to the charger all by itself when the battery power is low (the self-charger is sold as an add-on to the Roomba base model but comes included on most of the higher Discovery models). It accomplishes this using the infrared receiver on its front bumper. When the battery power gets low, the vacuum starts looking for the infrared signal emitted by the charger. Once it finds it, Roomba follows the signal and docks itself to the charger. Some robotic vacuums with this self-charging feature will head back out to resume cleaning once they're fully recharged

oomba needs to find the infrared signal of the Home Base in order to return.

sounds like for your application you might want to use the Log Angle (red/blue/green) nodes to acquire your data. This lets you sample at a specific rate for a given amount of time and saves the data to a file called RedData.dat, BlueData.dat or GreenData.dat depending on the color of the Log Angle you chose

Adding a vertical ultrasonic sensor to ClareBot allows the robot to go around an arena without touching the walls

When line following, the robot will try to align itself centered over the boundary between white and black (not centered over the black line), with black to the robot's left.  Here the brightness seen by the sensor is halfway between the black/min and white/max readings

When prompted to sample the "Min" or "Black" reading, position the sensor so that the red spot is centered over the line and then press the Enter button on the NXT. When prompted to sample the "Max" or "White" reading, position the sensor so that the red spot is completely over the surface away from the line and press the Enter button on the NXT.

3. In case the lighting in the room changes, could you program your line follower to re-calibrate the light sensor when you push a button?

equipped with four infrared Cliff Sensors that prevent robots from falling off stairs or ledges. The Cliff Sensors are located along the inside of the bumper

. If the Sensors become obstructed by dust or debris, the infrared signal is weakened