One of the best aspects was that we managed to source the materials we needed from recycled or unwanted components, which was the original intention of producing as buggy that was as 'environmentally friendly' as possible.
It was found that the buggy showed good tracking skills as during the line following stages it managed to reach the half way point however unfortunately due to selected pauses and the curvature of the chassis it unfortunately had a natural tendency to turn towards the right. This coupled with the rear wheel caused the buggy to loose track of the magnetic tape at various points across the line.
The gap in the following picture between the motors (when it was attempted to show alignment using a ruler) shows they could not be perfectly aligned, this turning effect would be magnified by the fact that the wheels had a natural incline.
The rear wheel would need to be substituted with a more appropriate jockey wheel as during the line following it was noticed that it could easily catch itself on the slightly thicker than expected track (this problem was also noted in other buggies):
This property amplifies the turning effect and often made it difficult for the buggy to reverse as it would get itself easily jammed:
It was however an improvement on the initial rear wheel shown in the picture as agreed by the group it impeded movement due to its weight and required more power from the to obtain the desired turn.
An improvement on the program could include the use of a RAMP function on the output in order to gently increase torque in order to slowly accelerate and decelerate the buggy particularly as it approaches a corner. This will also reduce the chances of overshooting or provoking the oscillating/'hunting' behaviour that was noticed as soon as it lost the track.
If you modified the red wheel so that it had less of a square shoulder you might have found that it was slightly easier for it to ride up and over the tape rather than catching on it.
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