Lego Mindstorms Tank Rover with Ultrasonic Sensors

Posted in Ideas, Lego, Projects, Robotics, Sensors by Sanjib Mitra on 4 December, 2010

A quick Lego rover using the Mindstorms Robotic Invension System 1.5. This took under 30 minutes to build and program using native RCX Code (and with a little help from my 5 year old). The rover uses an Ultrasonic Proximity sensor coupled to the RCX brick. The Ultrasonic Proximity detector has a range of 30 cm to 2.5 meters. This sensor is capable of detecting distances of objects in front with accuracy of 2-3 cm.

Here is a short video showing the rover avoiding crashing into walls. With the minimum sensor distance being 30 cms, detecting an approaching wall within 30 cms isn’t possible. The ultrasonic sensor is connected to the standard RCX input and configured as a light sensor in the RCX Code.