Our 3 3-D printed spacers

Our laser cup top and bottom casing

Materials needed

1. Top and bottom plastic holders
2. Small screws and bolts
3. Ball caster
4. 4-AAA battery holder
5. Reflectance sensor array
6. Wires
7. Arduino board and breadboard
8. 3 spacers
9. 2 wheels
10. 2 servo motors

Steps we did to complete the car

1. Buy necessary materials
2. Laser cut the top and bottom holders
3. Connect the wires to the breadboard and the arduino
4. Solder the wires to the sensor
5. Buy a toy car with wheels for our device
6. Connect the wheels to the motors
7. Stick the breadboard to the underside of the top each, and the battery holder to the topside.
8. Connect the sensor and arduino to the bottom piece
9. Connect the top and bottom pieces together using spacers and screws
10. Run the code for the arduino

The wheels we bought for our car

A picture of our group working together

The website for the line following car

http://diyhacking.com/make-line-follower-10-minutes/

Arduino set-up

This is the setup that we're following to make the line following car. 

This is the setup that we made for our car.

Crunch Time

Things were on schedule for team PAAN. Over the thanksgiving break we bought all the required tools for the maze solving car. Things took a turn for the worst when the 3-D printer and lazer cutter malfunctioned. We were a little behind schedule but we still had plenty of time. We got our top and bottom chasis lazer cut and began the assembly early in the week. The instructions were more confusing than we had originally thought they were, causing us to turn to alternatives. The first thing we looked at was another maze solving car, but needed an ardiuno shield. We scavenged the internet in search for a local shop that sold arduino shield to no avail. Just before giving up hope of making a car that follows a sensor, our teammate Anthony found our second golden nugget. It was an arduino car that follows a line but more importantly it didn't require an arduino shield and was  much less complicated.

Meeting before break

     Wednesday before the break Pat, Nate, and myself, Anthony, met up to discuss how we were going to find parts for the maze solving car. After browsing the internet, we found a site called instructables that has a detailed list of parts for the car. Nate is going to go shopping for the parts that he does not already have at home. Also, there are going to be to sheets of plastic that are going to hold all of the components together. These two sheets will be constructed on solid works, and cut using a laser cutter that is supplied in a lab. This is what we came up with together as a group on Wednesday 11-26-2014.
All group members were in attendance. Alex took the picture.
Time spent: 4 hours