LED mounting

The LED's must be mounted at the front of the buggy, close to the LDR sensors. The following images show the type of arrangement needed for the sensor board to be effective.





http://www.micahcarrick.com/05-27-2006/failurebot-line-following-robot.html

This design would work well under normal conditions, however since the LED and sensor array is not well shielded, the buggy may loss its ability to distinguish between light and dark regions in more extreme ambient light situations.

The solution to this is to introduce shielding to direct the light from the LED's towards a small spot on the ground. The following example shows this principle at work.



http://www.wa4dsy.net/robot/polyathlon-robot/polymax-improvements

This will significantly increase the efficiency of the buggy and the range of ambient light conditions in which it can operate. Below is a rough CAD image of the LED encased in a drinking straw to help direct light to a small area of ground underneath the buggy.



The LDR's will also have to be shielded in a similar fashion.