Line Follower with Obstacle Information System

using ZigBee
Snehal Kokare Rajveer Shastri Shrikrishna Kolhar
Dept. of Electronics & Dept. of Electronics & Dept. of Electronics &
Telecommunication Telecommunication Telecommunication
VPKBIET, Baramati VPKBIET, Baramati VPKBIET, Baramati
Baramati, India Baramati, India Baramati, India
snehal.kokare48@gmail.com rajveer.shastri@vpkbiet.org shrikrishna.kolhar@vpkbiet.org

Abstract— In this paper Firebird V robot follows white line on microcontroller and Atmega8 microcontroller, three white
a black surface. On Firebird V three white line sensors (Left, line sensors, one sharp IR range sensors, eight IR proximity
Centre, Right) for detecting white line. When obstacle comes in sensors, Buzzer, LCD, two DC (Direct Current) motors,
robot path then robot stops and buzzer get on for alertness and ZigBee module, RS232 serial port, USB port etc[6].
sends message wirelessly to PC via ZigBee i.e. “Obstacle is
present”. Here Sharp IR range sensor is used for obstacle
avoidance and motion of robot is handled by DC (Direct
Current) Motors. PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) is used to
control the speed of motor. We measured variation in voltages
of Sharp IR range sensor and IR proximity sensor as distance
between obstacle and sensor varied and voltage levels of white
line sensor on white line and black surface. We also measured
RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) at various distance
using XCTU software and we observed that RSSI value get
decreases as distance increases.

Keywords— Atmega2560 Microcontroller, Firebird V robot,

Line follower robot, White line sensor, Sharp IR range sensor.

I. INTRODUCTION
In 1950 Automobile engineers try to develop a machine
to carry out a task of dangerous area and repetitive task
which is boring for human such as drilling, welding,
pushing, cutting, soldering etc. British inventor Cyril W.
Kenward was developed first robotic arm in 1954. General Fig.1 Basic architecture of Fire Bird V robot [6]
Motors was the first company in 1962 that used service
robot in the production of radiators whose name was A. Motion Control
‘Planetbot’. In 1995 mobile robot was investigated, several DC geared motor interfacing with Atmega2560 is as
recent studies [1][2] used mobile robot for monitoring the shown in Fig.2. ATmega 2560 has total eleven ports; among
environment, handle the work in dangerous area and also this six are 8-bit (Port A to Port F), remaining five are 6 bits
used for collecting and routing a data in Wireless Sensor (Port G, H, J, K, L). Port A is used for handling motion
Network (WSN). Recently one humanoid robot was control. Fire Bird V robot has two 75 Revolution per Minute
investigated whose name was Sophia [3]. Sophia was (RPM) DC geared motors [7]. On the DC motor position
developed by Hanson Robotics Company which is located encoders are mounted as shown in Fig.3 which gives
in Hong-Kong. Sophia was the first robot who talks to position information to microcontroller. Fastest speed of
people and she got the citizenship of Saudi Arabia. Here we Firebird V robot is 24cm per second. Direction of motor i.e.
used a Firebird V robot which was made by IIT Bombay [4]. forward, backward, left, right etc. handled by L293D motor
Firebird V robot is used as a service robot in various field driver. PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) is used to control
such as hospitals, hotels; library and industry for pick and the speed of motor [6] [7] [8].
place job. By using line follower technique M.B. Nugraha et
al. [5] developed automated guided vehicle based on RFID
(Radio Frequency Identification) for transportation of
various things within an industry and buildings. For
programming this robot we used AVR STUDIO 4.1 and for
configuring a ZigBee module we used XCTU configuration
and test utility software. We experimented with and various
practical aspects are reported in this paper.
II. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
In the Firebird robot there are different series of robots
available, we are used fifth series of Firebird. As shown in
Fig.1 Firebird V robot consist of Atmega2560 Fig.2 Motor interfacing with Atmega2560 [7]

978-1-5386-5257-2/18/$31.00©20XX IEEE
 Fig.4 Pulse Width Modulation (Case A)

Fig.3 DC geared motors and position encoders [7]

B. Motor Pin Connections

4 Pins for Direction control is connected at PORT A
 PA0 - Left Motor Control (Left Backward)
 PA1 - Left Motor Control (Left Forward)
 PA2 - Right Motor Control (Right Forward)
 PA3 - Right Motor Control (Right Backward) Fig.5 Pulse Width Modulation (Case B)
Two Pins for Enabling Motor Driver IC is connected at
PORT L D. White Line Sensors
 PL3 - Left Channel Enable
 PL4 - Right Channel Enable

Table I. Logic table for motor direction control [6] [7]

Direction PA0 PA1 PA2 PA3

(LB) (LF) (RF) (RB)
Forward 0 1 1 0
Backward 1 0 0 0 Fig.6 Schematic of White line sensors.
Left 1 0 1 0
Right 0 0 1 0 It consists of photo transistor for white line detection
Soft Left 0 1 0 0
and bright red LED (Light Emitting Diode) for illumination.
Soft Right 0 0 0 0
Stop 0 0 0 0 Fig.6 shows white line sensor position on Firebird V. If the
white line sensor is on white line then more light reflected
hence more leakage current, voltage across the sensors falls
C. DC Motor Velocity Control Using Pulse Width down 2 to 0.1V. Conversely if robot does not on white line
Modulation (PWM) then less light reflected, less leakage current hence more
In PWM, duty cycle of square wave is modulated to voltage across the sensors 2 to 3.3V[10].
control the power delivered to the load. Duty cycle is the
ratio of ON time (Ton) to total time period (T) E. Sharp IR Range Sensor
For accurate distance measurement, robot uses Sharp IR
range sensors. At this instant on Firebird V robot one sharp
IR (Infrared) range sensor is present. We can extend this
1) Case A count up to 5. As shown in Fig.7 Sharp sensor contains IR
Ton = Time at output remains high = 1 LED and linear CCD (Charge Couple Device) array, both
Toff = Time at output remains Low = 7 encapsulated in the housing with precision lens assembly
Duty Cycle = 12.5% mounted in front of them. IR LED with the help of the leans
In case A (refer Fig. 4) ON time (Ton) is less so power transmits a narrow IR beam [11]-13]. When obstacles
delivered to motor is less hence speed of motor is slow [7] arrives then light incident on obstacle and reflects back to
[9]. CCD array.
2) Case B
Ton = Time at output remains high = 6
Toff = Time at output remains Low = 2
Duty Cycle = 75%
In this case B (refer Fig. 5) Ton is more, power delivered to
motor is more hence speed of motor is fast [8] [9].

Fig.7 Infrared Range finder sensor and its inside view

2018 Fourth International Conference on Computing Communication Control and

Automation (ICCUBEA)

Fig.8 Distance measurement based on angel of reflection
As shown in Fig.8 angel of reflection get changes as a
distance of obstacle varies. CCD array measures an angel
and find distance. Since sensor measurement is based on
triangulation and not on intensity of the reflected light, it is
immune to disturbance caused by ambient light. Sensor
gives out analog voltage corresponding to angle of
reflection. Relationship between the angle of reflection and
output voltage is not linear because of trigonometry
involved. Here GP2Y0A02YK sensor is used has range of
80cm t0 10cm.
F. Infrared proximity sensors
Fig.9 Infrared proximity sensor
Several studies [12] uses Infrared proximity sensor for
detecting the obstacle for short range; its range is up to
10cm. Fig.9 shows the schematic of infrared proximity
sensor it uses IR ray [12]-[15] as a transmitter and
photodiode as a receiver. When obstacle is absent then no
reflected light no leakage current will flow through
photodiode so voltage across the photodiode is about 3.3V.
As obstacle comes then reflection of light causes leakage
current flow in photodiode and voltage start to fall down
across the photodiode [11]-[13].
G. ZigBee
For wireless communication various protocols available
like Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi etc. but we prefer ZigBee
because of robust, low cost and power efficient features.
Here we used ZigBeesS2C (refer Fig.10) protocol for
wireless transmission of obstacle information in between PC
and Firebird V robot. ZigBee operates in 2.4GHZ band i.e.
Industrial Scientific Medical (ISM) band and it work in
physical layer of OSI (Open Source Interconnection) model.
Fig.10 ZigBeeS2C protocol
2018 Fourth International Conference on Computing Communication Control and
III. PROPOSED FLOWCHART
Fig.11 Flowchart for proposed system
The output of white line sensors is analog value hence
ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) is used to convert
analog value into digital. According to white line sensor
microcontroller (Atmega2560) gives command to motor.
Flowchart of proposed system is as shown in Fig.11. If
Centre white line sensor is on white line then robot moves in
forward direction. All the three sensors (Left, Centre, and
Right) are on the black line and if there is obstacle in front
of the robot then robot stops [16]. Left and right white line
sensors are on the black line then robot moves either left or
right.
IV. RESULTS & DISCUSSION
Using white line sensors, we successfully achieved
maximum stability in robot motion. Robot completes its task
in low speed as well as in high speed. Robot does not get
deviates from white line if track is not straight. Table II
shows the measured voltage values of white line sensors
when robot is on white line and on black line. From Fig. 12
we conclude that when white line sensors are on black line
more voltage across the sensor and when it on white line
then voltage falls down.
Table II. White line sensors (WLS) voltage values
Line Color Left WLS Centre WLS Right WLS
Black 75 88 72
White 8 7 9
Automation (ICCUBEA)
 Fig.12 White line sensor voltage plot
Fig.13 Disatnce vs voltage plot for sharp IR range sensor
Fig. 13 shows the graph of sharp IR range sensors
voltage over a distance. When obstacle is near to sensor then
voltage across the sensor is less and if obstacle is far then
voltage goes on increase. According to voltage values we
need to set a threshold value in program i.e. 50. If sharp
sensor value is greater than threshold then robot will stop
moving. We test the sharp IR range sensor up to 20 cm
distance. IR proximity sensor is used for near distance
obstacle up to 10cm. If obstacle is beyond 10cm then it
cannot detect obstacle. Here we used five IR proximity
sensor so it can detects obsacle from various sides. Fig 14
shows plot of voltages of IR proximity sensors with respect
to distance. According to IR sensor voltage values we have
to set threshold value for e.g for IR1 we have set 60 as a
threshold, above 60 value robot will move forward
otherwise it stop i.e there is obstacle present.
Fig.14 Disatnce vs voltage plot for IR proximity sensors
2018 Fourth International Conference on Computing Communication Control and
Fig.15 Motion of robot on a white line track
Fig.16 XCTU software window
Experimental demo of white line following and obstacle
avoidance robot is as shown in Fig.15. When obstacle
arrives in front of robot then robot automatically stops and
its send message wirelessly i.e. “Obstacle is present” to
laptop via ZigBee. Fig. 16 shows XCTU software window
where obstacle data is received via ZigBee. We measured
RSSI values at various distance and we observed refer
Fig.17 local ZigBee RSSI (ZigBee which is connected to
PC) and remote ZigBee (ZigBee which is connected to
robot) get decreases as a distance increases and transmission
error and packet lost is also increases as a distance
increases.
Fig.17 Plot of RSSI VS Distance
V. CONCLUSION
Thus by using line follower technique we achieved a
stability in robot motion for high speed as well as low speed.
ZigBee has provided a robust, low cost, low power platform
for wireless communication between robot and PC. This
makes it useful for application such as library management,
Automation (ICCUBEA)
hotel management and as a service robot in industry. Further
this work can be extended towards energy and path
optimization among multiple robots with artificial
intelligence for specified applications. By adding GPS
(Global Positioning System) we get the location of robot.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Author acknowledges technical resources provided by
Embedded and Robotics Lab which is developed under E-
Yantra Lab Setup Initiative (E-LSI) carried out by IIT
Bombay at VPKBIET, Baramati. The author would like to
thank Prof. Shrikrishna U. Kolhar for giving technical
support.
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Automation (ICCUBEA)