Our initial thought when designing our robot was to make a game like pong, but then we had the idea to make a gun. The idea was that it would detect colour, and spin a counterweight clockwise or counterclockwise depending on what colour is detected.
There was going to be a point system that would add or deduct points depending what colour you shot within a room, and you would be blindfolded. The gun’s counterweight would spin clockwise when you should shoot, adding points, and you would use this movement to play the game.
If the guns counterweight was spinning counterclockwise you wouldn’t shoot, and therefore wouldn’t have points deducted.
What Went Wrong
The damn colour sensor. The colour sensor is not supposed to be used from a distance, it needed to be way too close to detect colour. The Ultrasonic sensor can detect distance quite reliably, so we switched out the colour sensor for it, but then the issue arose of trying to make that a game, as we had nothing to shoot.
The Result
We started over from scratch, aside from the construction of the gun. We removed the trigger after failing to come up with an idea for a game. We ended up with a scanner that would detect distance and give you feedback based on your proximity to your surroundings. The motor would spin the counterweight faster the closer you get, and under 25 cm it would start to beep quite rapidly, this could be used if your vision is impaired through whatever means, whether you’re blind or even just a power outage at night, and you can navigate through an environment whilst sightless. Connor got around his house with his eyes closed, and got through part of the college.
It works perfectly for walls and flat object, but gets a bit shaky on specific objects. It has a solid construction that we’re too proud of, and it’s a very simple, but nice device.
