Single infra-red sensor technique for line-tracking autonomous mobile vehicle

Floor-based line-tracking technique is widely implemented for use in many autonomous mobile vehicle applications in the industries such as for transportation of goods within an enclosed warehouse or factories. It is also popular in competition robots. Many line-tracking systems utilize several kinds of discrete sensors such as the reflective infra-red LED, light dependent resistor (LDR), and multi-array inductance. Multiple of these discrete sensors are required to be arranged closed together in front of the vehicle and facing the floor to trace the profile of the line. A minimum of two sensors are required to ensure effectiveness of the line detection algorithm, especially to determine the vehicle's position, either at left or at right with respect to line. This paper proposed a latest idea of using only one discrete sensor for mobile vehicle to detect a line having two colour shades on a white background surface. The results show that single sensor managed to allow the vehicle to maneuver as effectively on the line.