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Design & Implementation of Light Following Robot

Technical Report · March 2014

DOI: 10.13140/2.1.3301.9209

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DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION OF
LIGHT FOLLOWING ROBOT
Submitted by

Md. Hasib Iqbal Maksuda Jahan

ID: EECE 100100093 ID: EECE 100100092

Supervised by

Ashraful Arefin
Sr. Lecturer
Electrical & Electronic Engineering

March 2014
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
NORTHERN UNIVERSITY BANGLADESH
 Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Most people think of robots in humanlike terms — communicating and doing things like people
would. But this specific subset of robots is actually not very common. A robot can be defined as a
mechanical device that is capable of performing a variety of tasks on command or according to
instructions programmed in advance. Engineers design robots to perform complex tasks more easily
and with greater accuracy

Robot is a system that contains sensors, control systems, manipulators, power supplies and software
all working together to perform a task. Designing, building, programming and testing a robots is a
combination of physics, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, structural engineering,
mathematics and computing. In some cases biology, medicine, chemistry might also be involved.

Some everyday examples of robots include:

 automatic car washes

 vending machines
 automatic doors
 robotic arms used in manufacturing
 remote control cars and trucks
 automatic teller machines (ATMs)

A robot has these essential characteristics:

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  Sensing First of all your robot would have to be able to sense its surroundings. It would do
this in ways that are not unsimilar to the way that you sense your surroundings. Giving your
robot sensors: light sensors (eyes), touch and pressure sensors (hands), chemical sensors
(nose), hearing and sonar sensors (ears), and taste sensors (tongue) will give your robot
awareness of its environment.
 Movement A robot needs to be able to move around its environment. Whether rolling on
wheels, walking on legs or propelling by thrusters a robot needs to be able to move. To
count as a robot either the whole robot moves, like the Sojourner or just parts of the robot
moves, like the Canada Arm.
 Energy A robot needs to be able to power itself. A robot might be solar powered,
electrically powered, battery powered. The way your robot gets its energy will depend on
what your robot needs to do.
 Intelligence A robot needs some kind of "smarts." This is where programming enters the
pictures. A programmer is the person who gives the robot its 'smarts.' The robot will have to
have some way to receive the program so that it knows what it is to do.

A study of robotics means that students are actively engaged with all of these disciplines in a
deeply problem-posing problem-solving environment.

Our project is ―Design & Implementation of a Light following Robot‖. This robotic motion is
dependent on light. In this paper we described our project operation and function of each parts.

The main parts of this project are: 555 timer IC, DC motor, LDR.

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 C
Required Equipments

DC Motor

A DC motor like we all know is a device that deals in the conversion of electrical energy to mechanical energy

and this is essentially brought about by two major parts required for the construction of dc motor, namely.

1) Stator – The static part that houses the field windings and receives the supply and

2) Rotor – The rotating part that brings about the mechanical rotations.

Other than that there are several subsidiary parts namely the

3) Yoke of dc motor.

4) Poles of dc motor.

5) Field winding of dc motor.

6) Armature winding of dc motor.

7) Commutator of DC Motor.

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8) Brushes of DC Motor.

Now let‘s do a detailed discussion about all the essential parts of dc motor

Figure: Essential Parts of a DC motor

Yoke of DC Motor

Figure: Yoke of DC motor.

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The magnetic frame or the yoke of dc motor made up of cast iron or steel and forms an integral part of
the stator or the static part of the motor. Its main function is to form a protective covering over the
inner sophisticated parts of the motor and provide support to the armature. It also supports the field system
by housing the magnetic poles and field windings of the dc motor

Poles of DC Motor

The magnetic poles of DC motor are structures fitted onto the inner wall of the yoke with screws.
The construction of magnetic poles basically comprises of two parts namely, the pole core and the
pole shoe stacked together under hydraulic pressure and then attached to the yoke. These two
structures are assigned for different purposes, the pole core is of small cross sectional area and its
function is to just hold the pole shoe over the yoke, whereas the pole shoe having a relatively larger
cross-sectional area spreads the flux produced over the air gap between the stator and rotor to
reduce the loss due to reluctance. The pole shoe also carries slots for the field windings that produce
the field flux

Field Winding of DC Motor

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 Figure: Field winding of DC motor.

The field winding of dc motor are made with field coils (copper wire) wound over the slots of the
pole shoes in such a manner that when field current flows through it, then adjacent poles have
opposite polarity are produced. The field winding basically form an electromagnet, that produces
field flux within which the rotor armature of the dc motor rotates, and results in the effective flux
cutting.

Armature Winding of DC Motor

Figure: Armature winding of DC motor.

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The armature winding of dc motor is attached to the rotor, or the rotating part of the machine, and
as a result is subjected to altering magnetic field in the path of its rotation which directly results in
magnetic losses. For this reason the rotor is made of armature core, that‘s made with several low-
hysteresis silicon

steel lamination, to reduce the magnetic losses like hysteresis and eddy current loss respectively.
These laminated steel sheets are stacked together to form the cylindrical structure of the armature
core.
The armature core are provided with slots made of the same material as the core to which the
armature windings made with several turns of copper wire distributed uniformly over the entire
periphery of the core. The slot openings a shut with fibrous wedges to prevent the conductor from
plying out due to the high centrifugal force produced during the rotation of the armature, in
presence of supply current and field.

Commutator of DC Motor

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 Figure: Commutator of DC motor

The commutator of dc motor is a cylindrical structure made up of copper segments stacked

together, but insulated from each other by mica. Its main function as far as the dc motor is
concerned is to commute or relay the supply current from the mains to the armature windings
housed over a rotating structure through the brushes of dc motor.

Brushes of DC Motor

The brushes of dc motor are made with carbon or graphite structures, making sliding contact over
the rotating commutator. The brushes are used to relay the electric current from external circuit to
the rotating commutator form where it flows into the armature winding. So, the commutator and
brush unit of the dc motor is concerned with transmitting the power from the static electrical circuit
to the mechanically rotating region or the rotor.

working principle of DC motor

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 Figure: Internal Structure of a DC motor

Now to go into the details of the operating principle of DC motor its important that we have a clear
understanding of Fleming‘s left hand rule to determine the direction of force acting on the armature
conductors of dc motor.

Figure: Fleming Left Hand Law.

Fleming‘s left hand rule says that if we extend the index finger, middle finger and thumb of our left
hand in such a way that the electric current carrying conductor is placed in a magnetic field
(represented by the index finger) is perpendicular to the direction of current (represented by the

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middle finger), then the conductor experiences a force in the direction (represented by the thumb)
mutually perpendicular to both the direction of field and the current in the conductor.

For clear understanding the principle of DC motor we have to determine the magnitude of the force,
by considering the diagram below.

We know that when an infinitely small charge dq is made to flow at a velocity ‗v‘ under the
influence of an electric field E, and a magnetic field B, then the Lorentz Force dF experienced by
the charge is given by

Figure: Charge Velocity under the electromagnetic field.

dF = dq(E + v X B)

For the operation of dc motor, considering E = 0

∴ dF = dq v X B

i.e. it‘s the cross product of dq v and magnetic field B.

or dF = dq (dL/dt) X B [v = dL/dt]

Where dL is the length of the conductor carrying charge q.

or dF = (dq/dt) dL X B

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or dF = I dL X B [Since, current I = dq/dt]

or F = IL X B = ILB Sinθ

or F = BIL Sinθ

From the 1st diagram we can see that the construction of a DC motor is such that the direction of
electric current through the armature conductor at all instance is perpendicular to the field. Hence
the force acts on the armature conductor in the direction perpendicular to the both uniform field and
current is constant.

i.e. θ = 90°

So if we take the current in the left hand side of the armature conductor to be I, and current at right
hand side of the armature conductor to be − I, because they are flowing in the opposite direction
with respect to each other.

Then the force on the left hand side armature conductor, Fl = BIL Sin90° = BIL

Similarly force on the right hand side conductor Fr = B( − I)L.Sin90° = − BIL

∴ we can see that at that position the force on either side is equal in magnitude but opposite in
direction. And since the two conductors are separated by some distance w = width of the armature
turn, the two opposite forces produces a rotational force or a torque that results in the rotation of the
armature conductor. Now let's examine the expression of torque when the armature turn crate an
angle of α with its initial position.

The torque produced is given by

Torque = force, tangential to the direction of armature rotation X distance.

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or τ = Fcosα.w

or τ = BIL w cosα

Where α is the angle between the plane of the armature turn and the plane of reference or the initial
position of the armature which is here along the direction of magnetic field.

The presence of the term cosα in the torque equation very well signifies that unlike force the torque
at all position is not the same. It in fact varies with the variation of the angle α. To explain the
variation of torque and the principle behind rotation of the motor let us do a stepwise analysis.

Step 1:

Initially considering the armature is in its starting point or reference position where the angle α = 0.

∴ τ = BIL w cos0 = BILw

Since α = 0, the term cos α = 1, or the maximum value, hence torque at this position is maximum
given by τ = BILw. This high starting torque helps in overcoming the initial inertia of rest of the
armature and sets it into rotation.

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Step 2:
Once the armature is set in motion, the angle α between the actual position of the armature and its
reference initial position goes on increasing in the path of its rotation until it becomes 90° from its
initial position. Consequently the term cosα decreases and also the value of torque.

The torque in this case is given by τ = BILwcosα which is less than BIL w when α is greater than 0°

Step 3:
In the path of the rotation of the armature a point is reached where the actual position of the rotor is
exactly perpendicular to its initial position, i.e. α = 90°, and as a result the term cosα = 0.

The torque acting on the conductor at this position is given by.

τ = BILwcos90° = 0

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i.e. virtually no rotating torque acts on the armature at this instance. But still the armature does not
come to a standstill, this is because of the fact that the operation of dc motor has been engineered in
such a way that the inertia of motion at this point is just enough to overcome this point of null
torque. Once the rotor crosses over this position the angle between the actual position of the
armature and the initial plane again decreases and torque starts acting on it again.

555 Timer IC

One of the most versatile linear ICs is the 555 timer which was first introduced in early 1970 by
Signetic Corporation giving the name as SE/NE 555 timer. This IC is a monolithic timing circuit
that can produce accurate and highly stable time delays or oscillation. Like other commonly used
op-amps, this IC is also very much reliable, easy to use and cheaper in cost.

Figure: 555 Timer IC

It has a variety of applications including monostable and astable multivibrators, dc-dc converters,
digital logic probes, waveform generators, analog frequency meters and tachometers, temperature
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measurement and control devices, voltage regulators etc. The timer basically operates in one of the
two modes either as a monostable (one-shot) multivibrator or as an astable (free-running)
multivibrator.The SE 555 is designed for the operating temperature range from – 55°C to 125°
while the NE 555 operates over a temperature range of 0° to 70°C.

The important features of the 555 timer are :

 It operates from a wide range of power supplies ranging from + 5 Volts to + 18 Volts supply voltage.
 Sinking or sourcing 200 mA of load current.
 The external components should be selected properly so that the timing intervals can be made into
several minutes Proper selection of only a few external components allows timing intervals of
several minutes along with the frequencies exceeding several hundred kilo hertz.
 It has a high current output; the output can drive TTL.
 It has a temperature stability of 50 parts per million (ppm) per degree Celsius change in temperature,
or equivalently 0.005 %/ °C.

The duty cycle of the timer is adjustable with the maximum power dissipation per package is 600 mW and
its trigger and reset inputs are logic compatible.

555 Timer IC Pin Configuration

Figure:555 timer IC pin Diagram

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Pin 1: Grounded Terminal: All the voltages are measured with respect to this terminal.

Pin 2: Trigger Terminal: This pin is an inverting input to a comparator that is responsible for
transition of flip-flop from set to reset. The output of the timer depends on the amplitude of the
external trigger pulse applied to this pin.

Pin 3: Output Terminal: Output of the timer is available at this pin. There are two ways in which
a load can be connected to the output terminal either between pin 3 and ground pin (pin 1) or
between pin 3 and supply pin (pin 8). The load connected between pin 3 and ground supply pin is
called the normally on load and that connected between pin 3 and ground pin is called the normally
off load.

Pin 4: Reset Terminal: To disable or reset the timer a negative pulse is applied to this pin due to
which it is referred to as reset terminal. When this pin is not to be used for reset purpose, it should
be connected to + VCC to avoid any possibility of false triggering.

Pin 5: Control Voltage Terminal: The function of this terminal is to control the threshold and
trigger levels. Thus either the external voltage or a pot connected to this pin determines the pulse
width of the output waveform. The external voltage applied to this pin can also be used to modulate
the output waveform. When this pin is not used, it should be connected to ground through a 0.01
micro Farad to avoid any noise problem.

Pin 6: Threshold Terminal: This is the non-inverting input terminal of comparator 1, which
compares the voltage applied to the terminal with a reference voltage of 2/3 VCC. The amplitude of
voltage applied to this terminal is responsible for the set state of flip-flop.

Pin 7 : Discharge Terminal: This pin is connected internally to the collector of transistor and
mostly a capacitor is connected between this terminal and ground. It is called discharge terminal
because when transistor saturates, capacitor discharges through the transistor. When the transistor is
cut-off, the capacitor charges at a rate determined by the external resistor and capacitor.

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Pin 8: Supply Terminal: A supply voltage of + 5 V to + 18 V is applied to this terminal with
respect to ground (pin 1).

Block Diagram

The block diagram of a 555 timer is shown in the above figure. A 555 timer has two comparators,
which are basically 2 op-amps), an R-S flip-flop, two transistors and a resistive network.

 Resistive network consists of three equal resistors and acts as a voltage divider.
 Comparator 1 compares threshold voltage with a reference voltage + 2/3 VCC volts.
 Comparator 2 compares the trigger voltage with a reference voltage + 1/3 VCC volts.

Output of both the comparators is supplied to the flip-flop. Flip-flop assumes its state according to
the output of the two comparators. One of the two transistors is a discharge transistor of which
collector is connected to pin 7. This transistor saturates or cuts-off according to the output state of
the flip-flop. The saturated transistor provides a discharge path to a capacitor connected externally.
Base of another transistor is connected to a reset terminal. A pulse applied to this terminal resets the
whole timer irrespective of any input.

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Working Principle

Comparator 1 has a threshold input (pin 6) and a control input (pin 5). In most applications, the
control input is not used, so that the control voltage equals +2/3 VCC. Output of this comparator is
applied to set (S) input of the flip-flop. Whenever the threshold voltage exceeds the control voltage,
comparator 1 will set the flip-flop and its output is high. A high output from the flip-flop saturates
the discharge transistor and discharge the capacitor connected externally to pin 7. The
complementary signal out of the flip-flop goes to pin 3, the output. The output available at pin 3 is
low. These conditions will prevail until comparator 2 triggers the flip-flop. Even if the voltage at
the threshold input falls below 2/3 VCC, that is comparator 1 cannot cause the flip-flop to change
again. It means that the comparator 1 can only force the flip-flop‘s output high.

To change the output of flip-flop to low, the voltage at the trigger input must fall below + 1/3 Vcc.
When this occurs, comparator 2 triggers the flip-flop, forcing its output low. The low output from
the flip-flop turns the discharge transistor off and forces the power amplifier to output a high. These
conditions will continue independent of the voltage on the trigger input. Comparator 2 can only
cause the flip-flop to output low.

From the above discussion it is concluded that for the having low output from the timer 555, the
voltage on the threshold input must exceed the control voltage or + 2/3 VCC. They also turn the
discharge transistor on. To force the output from the timer high, the voltage on the trigger input
must drop below +1/3 VCC. This also turns the discharge transistor off.

A voltage may be applied to the control input to change the levels at which the switching occurs.
When not in use, a 0.01 nano Farad capacitor should be connected between pin 5 and ground to
prevent noise coupled onto this pin from causing false triggering.

Connecting the reset (pin 4) to a logic low will place a high on the output of flip-flop. The discharge
transistor will go on and the power amplifier will output a low. This condition will continue until
reset is taken high. This allows synchronization or resetting of the circuit‘s operation. When not in
use, reset should be tied to +VCC.

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LDR (Light Dependent Resistor)

Figure: LDR (light dependent Resistor)

An LDR is a component that has a resistance that changes with the light intensity that falls upon it.
They have a resistance that falls with an increase in the light intensity falling upon the device.

Figure: Relation between Resistance and intensity

The resistance of an LDR may typically have the following resistances.

Daylight= 5000 ohms

Dark = 20000000 ohms

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It stands for Light Dependent Resistor or Photoresistor, which is a passive electronic component,
basically a resistor which has a resistance that varies depending of the light intensity. A
photoresistor is made of a high resistance semiconductor that absorbs photons and based on the
quantity and frequency of the absorbed photons the semiconductor material give bound electrons
enough energy to jump into the conduction band. The resulting free electrons conduct electricity
resulting in lowering resistance of the photoresistor. The number of electrons is dependent of the
photons frequency.

How does the LDR (photoresistor) works

The resistance is very high in darkness, almost high as 1MΩ but when there is light that falls on the
LDR, the resistance is falling down to a few KΩ (10-20kΩ @ 10 lux, 2-4kOmega; @ 100 lux)
depending on the model.

Light dependent resistors come in different shapes and colors. LDRs are very useful in many
electronic circuits, especially in alarms, switching devices, clocks, street lights and more. There

They are all tagged as LDR. Here are some of them: On electroschematics.com we have some
circuits that uses the photoresistor.

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 Chapter:3

Project Construction

Figure: Circuit Diagram of the project

Operation of the circuit:

This circuit works in the monostable mode. In the monostable mode, the 555 timer acts as a "one-
shot" pulse generator. The pulse begins when the 555 timer receives a signal at the trigger input
that falls below a third of the voltage supply. The width of the output pulse is determined by the
time constant of an RC network, which consists of a capacitor (C) and a resistor (R). The output pulse ends
when the capacitor equals 2/3 of the supply voltage. The output pulse width can be lengthened or
shortened to the need of the specific application by adjusting the values of R and C.[5]

The output pulse width of time t, which is the time it takes to charge C to 2/3 of the supply
voltage.

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 Figure: monostable mode and output waveform of the circuit

Hardware implementation:

Figure: picture of the complete project.

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 Chapter-4

Conclusion

We finished our project with successfully. We can finished this project with successfully for our
honorable teacher Ashraful Arefin (senior lecturer, EEE). His instruction, Supervised is help to
success for our project ―Design & Implementation of a Light Following Robot‖.

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