Vacuum cleaner, now with laser

 

    So, as said in the last entry, the bumper proved to be not very reliable for the obstacle avoidance. For this newer, and probably final, version the laser is used instead. To maintain the behaivour only the front is checked, thus when it detects an obtect that is closer than 20cm it goes backwards and turn.

     Regarding the turning, now it is pseudorandomized by counting a random number of iterations while it is in the turning state. Also it can change the turn direction, not with a 50/50 ratio but instead it is more probable to mantain the previous direction. The reason for this is because if there is the same chance to turn one direction or another sometimes the vacuum enters a loop in which the same oscillating movement is repeated and can get stuck in this state for a while.


    After this changes we can see that a large section of the room is cleaned in aproximately 7 minutes, and due to the randomness of the movement, eventually it will reach every part of the surface:











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