Designing an autonomous robot vehicle

In the fall of 1996, at Texas Tech University, a class of 32 EE students was asked to build a mobile robot vehicle. It would, under Region 3 Student Conference robotics competition guidelines: 1) complete three laps around a wooden track, and 2) at the beginning of each lap, drop a coin in a toll slot in an order specified to the vehicle at the starting line. A vehicle was built on a modified radio-controlled car chassis, rigged with optical sensors and a Motorola 68HCll microcontroller. This vehicle completed the laps and deposited one quarter in the correct toll slot. The vehicle stopped at the other two toll slots in the correct order, but missed them by about one third of an inch. All eight groups demonstrated their cars and their performance at a campus event. All teams were able to make their vehicles complete three laps, although some of them were not able to deposit quarters in the toll slots.