Things used in this project
Hardware components
SOFTWARE COMPONENTS
Hand tools
Before starting let’s see first What you will learn from this instructable
Mechanical Part
Electronics Part
Arduino Coding
Assemble all parts
About JLCPCB
Troubleshoot

Make Your Own Creation Marketing Manager

Published April 23, 2021 © GPL3+

Arduino Light Tracking Robot with LDR

Hey there, here in this article, I’m going to guide you to make an Arduino Light Following Robot. This is very easy to make (for beginners)

BeginnerFull instructions provided10 hours7,860

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Arduino UNO

DC Motor, 12 V

LDR, 5 Mohm

Texas Instruments Dual H-Bridge motor drivers L293D

Software apps and online services

Arduino IDE

JLCPCB EasyEDA

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Soldering iron (generic)

Hot glue gun (generic)

Drill / Driver, Cordless

Story

WHY ARDUINO UNO

Here in this project, I have made an Arduino Based Light Tracking Robot. I have used Arduino UNO as a Brain of this robot. I have enclosed an Arduino Code with this article which will help you to instruct the robot to follow the light source and move towards it.

WHY L293D MOTOR DRIVER SHIELD

I have used the L293d motor driver module to control the speed of the motor. There are several motor drivers available on the market but I personally like this one because this is easy to install with Arduino UNO, has 4 individual ports for 4 motors, and also there are many extra extended ports like 5v pins, GND pins, and analog pins, etc.

WHY LDR SENSOR MODULE

As it's a Light tracking robot so, our basic requirement is to track the light, right? and I have found LDR is the best solution for this. But we can't connect the LDR resistor directly with the Arduino or the motor driver. We need to make a compatible circuit for that, and in this state, I have found my solution on LDR sensor Module which is very low in price and also very easy to connect with the Arduino board.

Things used in this project

Hardware components

·· ARDUINO UNO

· L293D MOTOR DRIVER

· LDR Sensor Module

· DC MOTOR

· Propeller

· 18650 LI-ION BATTERY

· 18650 LI-ION BATTERY HOLDER

· CHASSIS FOR BODY

· PCB BOARD BY JLCPCB

JUMPER WIRES

SOFTWARE COMPONENTS

· ARDUINO IDE

· EASYEDA

· JLCPCB

Hand tools

· Soldering iron

· Drill Machine

· Glue Gun

Before starting let’s see first What you will learn from this instructable:

· Making the right hardware selection for your project depending on its functionalities.

· Prepare the circuit diagram to connect all the chosen components.

· Assemble all the project parts (mechanical and electronic assembly).

· Finally designing your own ARDUINO-based Light Tracking Robot.

Mechanical Part

Our first step will be to make the robot body. so, here we have to make a DIY chassis and assemble the TT gear Motor with the robot chassis. Here is how it looks like in my case…

Electronics Part

Now we are going to assemble all the components with the PCB. I have made a PCB file to make it easy to assemble and ordered my PCB from JLCPCB. They are very professional in PCB making and the build time was short. I received my item within 7 working days.

After getting the PCB it was just a less than 2 minutes job to assemble all the components properly.

Arduino Coding

Now I had to upload the code to the Arduino UNO.So I have attached the USB cable that comes with the Arduino UNO board and follows the steps mentioned below

· Open Arduino IDE on your PC

· Connect ARDUINO with PC via USB Cable

· Go to Tools > manage libraries > Search for AF Motor driver and download

· Go to Tools > Board > and select Arduino\Genuino UNO

· Go to Tools > Port > Select proper COM port

· Now Verify the code and then upload it

***Please don’t forget to remove/detach remove the yellow jumper cap from the motor driver before uploading the sketch/code. Re-Connect it after the code has been uploaded successfully.

Assemble all parts

Here in this part, I am going to assemble all the parts like wheels, chassis encloser together and insert the 18650 li-ion battery on the battery holder.

And here is how it finally looks like…

Now the robot is ready to go…

About JLCPCB

JLCPCB (Shenzhen JIALICHUANG Electronic Technology Development Co., Ltd.), is the largest PCB prototype enterprise in China and a high-tech manufacturer specializing

in quick PCB prototype and small-batch PCB production. With over 10 years of experience in PCB manufacturing, JLCPCB has more than 200, 000 customers at home and abroad,

with over 8, 000 online orders of PCB prototyping and small quantity PCB production per day. The annual production capacity is 200, 000 sq.m. for various 1-layer,

2-layer or multi-layer PCBs. JLCPCB is a professional PCB manufacturer featured of large scale, well equipment, strict management, and superior quality.

Troubleshoot:

A. The programmer is not responding: If you face this error then it may be because of the Motor Driver. Make sure that you have removed or detached the yellow cap of the motor driver before uploading the code & attach it again once you have done uploading.

B. The motor is not rotating in the right direction: If you face this issue then you don’t need to modify any code. You just have to Interchange the motor wires. Simply, I can say just connect the Motor to the Motor driver

C. Not following the light or running before you have applied the light: This will happen when the LDR sensor modules are not calibrated properly. Put lights on the sensor & Calibrate them by rotating the potentiometer attached with them.

Code

Light Tracking Robot

/*Arduino Light Tracking Robot 
 *Version 1.0
 *Before Uploading the sketch you must install the required libraries first. 
 *Unless you'll get compilation error message.
 *Also remove the yellow jumper cap from motor driver before uploading the sketch/




#include<AFMotor.h> 
#define L1 A0 
#define M1 A1
#define R1 A2

AF_DCMotor motor1(1);
AF_DCMotor motor2(2);
AF_DCMotor motor3(3);
AF_DCMotor motor4(4);


void setup() {
  // put your setup code here, to run once:
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(L1, INPUT);
pinMode(M1, INPUT);
pinMode(R1, INPUT);
}

void loop() {
  // put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
int LSensor = digitalRead(L1);
int MSensor = digitalRead(M1);
int RSensor = digitalRead(R1);

Serial.print("LSensor");
Serial.println(LSensor);
Serial.print("MSensor");
Serial.println(MSensor);
Serial.print("RSensor");
Serial.println(RSensor);

if((LSensor == 0)&&(MSensor == 0)&&(RSensor ==0)) { 
  //MOVE FORWARD
  motor1.setSpeed(120);
  motor1.run(FORWARD);
  motor2.setSpeed(120);
  motor2.run(FORWARD);
  motor3.setSpeed(120);
  motor3.run(FORWARD);
  motor4.setSpeed(120);
  motor4.run(FORWARD);
  
} else if((LSensor == 0)&&(MSensor == 0)&&(RSensor ==1)) {
  //TURN LEFT
  motor1.setSpeed(150);
  motor1.run(BACKWARD);
  motor2.setSpeed(150);
  motor2.run(BACKWARD);
  motor3.setSpeed(150);
  motor3.run(FORWARD);
  motor4.setSpeed(150);
  motor4.run(FORWARD);
  
}else if((LSensor == 1)&&(MSensor == 0)&&(RSensor ==0)) {
  //TURN RIGHT
  motor1.setSpeed(150);
  motor1.run(FORWARD);
  motor2.setSpeed(150);
  motor2.run(FORWARD);
  motor3.setSpeed(150);
  motor3.run(BACKWARD);
  motor4.setSpeed(150);
  motor4.run(BACKWARD);
}else if((LSensor == 1)&&(MSensor == 1)&&(RSensor ==1)) {
  //STOP
  motor1.setSpeed(0);
  motor1.run(RELEASE);
  motor2.setSpeed(0);
  motor2.run(RELEASE);
  motor3.setSpeed(0);
  motor3.run(RELEASE);
  motor4.setSpeed(0);
  motor4.run(RELEASE);
}
}

Credits

Make Your Own Creation Marketing Manager

12 projects • 7 followers

Arduino Light Tracking Robot with LDR

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Things used in this project

Hardware components

SOFTWARE COMPONENTS

Hand tools

Before starting let’s see first What you will learn from this instructable:

Mechanical Part

Electronics Part

Arduino Coding

Assemble all parts

About JLCPCB

Troubleshoot:

Schematics

Circuit Diagram for Light Tracking Robot

Code

Light Tracking Robot

Credits

Make Your Own Creation Marketing Manager

Comments

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Arduino Light Tracking Robot with LDR

Arduino Light Tracking Robot with LDR

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Things used in this project

Hardware components

SOFTWARE COMPONENTS

Hand tools

Before starting let’s see first What you will learn from this instructable:

Mechanical Part

Electronics Part

Arduino Coding

Assemble all parts

About JLCPCB

Troubleshoot:

Schematics

Circuit Diagram for Light Tracking Robot

Code

Light Tracking Robot

Credits

Make Your Own Creation Marketing Manager

Comments

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