Contributor:

Hari Prasaath K
A maze solving robot is designed to move in a maze and escape through it by
following its walls. A maze solving robot is quite similar to a line follower. Like
a line follower has to follow black strip lines, a maze follower finds a wall and
starts following it until it finds an escape route. But unlike a line follower
which has just to follow a predetermined route, a maze follower is designed to find
an escape route that is not known beforehand. However, both types of robots are
designed to be autonomous, they basically perform different tasks.

The maze solving robot designed in this tutorial is built on Arduino UNO and has
the maze solving algorithm implemented within the Arduino Sketch. The hardware
design of the robot is quite similar that of any other typical line follower robot
except that a line follower may have sensors only in the front side of the robot,
the maze solving robot has sensors at left side, right side and front side of the
robot. The electronic circuitry of the robot consists of the Arduino board, IR
sensor array and L293D motor driver IC coupled with two geared DC motors. The robot
is powered by a 12V battery and is programmed to instantly start finding an escape
route once it is powered by the battery.


Fig. 1: Prototype of Arduino based Maze Solving Robot

Components Required -

Fig. 2: List of components required for Arduino based Maze Solving Robot

The following components will be required for designing the sensor array -

Fig. 3: List of components required for IR Sensor Module

Block Diagram -


Fig. 4: Block Diagram of Arduino based Maze Solving Robot

Circuit Connections -
The maze solving robot has to find an escape route by following walls of the maze.
For that, it is equipped with an IR sensor array and a motor driver circuit. Both
the sensor circuit as well the motor driver circuit are interfaced with the Arduino
board. The electronic circuit controlling the robot has the following building
blocks -

Power Supply - In the circuit, Arduino board and IR sensor array need a 5V
regulated DC for their operation while the motor driver IC needs 12V DC. A 12V NIMH
battery is used as the primary source of power. The supply from the battery is
regulated to 5V and 12V using 7805 and 7812 ICs. The pin 1 of both the voltage
regulator ICs is connected to the anode of the battery and pin 2 of both ICs is
connected to ground. The respective voltage outputs are drawn from pin 3 of the
respective voltage regulator ICs. An LED along with a 10K Ω pull-up resistor is
also connected between common ground and output pin to get a visual hint of supply
continuity. Despite using 12V battery, 7812 is used to provide a regulated and
stable supply to the motor driver IC. The DC motors cannot be directly connected to
the battery as they can only be controlled by the motor driver IC and the motor
driver IC itself need a regulated power input.

Arduino UNO - Arduino UNO is one of the most popular prototyping boards. It is used
frequently in robotic applications as it is small in size and packed with rich
features. The board comes with built-in Arduino boot loader. It is an Atmega 328
based controller board which has 14 GPIO pins, 6 PWM pins, 6 Analog inputs and on
board UART, SPI and TWI interfaces. In this project, 5 GPIO pins of the board are
utilized to connect the IR sensors and 6 GPIO pins are used to interface L293D
motor driver IC.

L293D DC Motor Driver IC - The L293D is a dual H-bridge motor driver integrated
circuit (IC). The Motor drivers act as current amplifiers since they take a low-
current control signal and provide a higher-current signal. This higher current
signal is used to drive the motors. It has 16 pins with following pin configuration
-


Fig. 5: Table listing pin configuration of L293D Motor Driver IC

For robot's motion, there are two DC motors used. The DC motors are interfaced
between pins 3 and 6 and pins 14 and 11 of one of the motor driver IC.

The L293D IC controls the DC Motors according to the following truth tables:

Fig. 6: Truth Table of L293D Motor Driver IC

Fig. 7: Truth Table of L293D Motor Driver IC

The pin 4, 5, 13 and 12 of the L293D IC are grounded while pins 1, 16 and 9 are
connected to 5V DC and pin 8 is connected to 12V DC. The pins 15, 2, 7 and 10 of
this motor driver IC are connected to pins 5, 2, 3 and 4 of the Arduino board. The
DC motor attached to right wheel is connected to pins 11 and 14 while motor
attached to left wheel is connected to pins 3 and 6 of the motor driver IC. The
pins 15, 2, 7 and 10 are input signal pins of the motor driver IC. These are
connected to Arduino pins. On changing digital logic at the Arduino pins, the logic
at the input pins of the motor driver IC is also changed. As summarized in the
tables above, the direction of rotation of the DC motors depends upon the digital
logic at the input pins of the motor driver IC. The pins 1 and 9 of the IC are
connected with the pins 9 and 10 of the Arduino board. These are enable pins for
the DC motors.

Geared DC Motors - In this robot, 12V geared DC motors are attached to the wheels.
Geared DC motors are available with wide range of RPM and Torque, which allow a
robot to move based on the control signal it receives from the motor driver IC.

IR sensor array - The maze solving robot is designed to follow walls of the robot
and turn in the direction where it finds no walls. For this, a sensor which can
detect the side walls is required. The IR sensors can detect the walls of the maze
based on reflective/non-reflective indirect incidence. The IR LEDs emit IR
radiation which in normal state gets reflected back from the white surface of the
wall but can be absorbed by a black spot or surface.

The reflected radiations are detected by the photodiodes. Assuming walls to be of

white colour, the IR radiations will be reflected back from the wall. But when
there will be no wall, the radiations will not be reflected back. This way, an IR
sensor module can detect the presence of side walls and obstacles in front of the
robot. The IR sensors are available with analog output as well as digital output.
In this robot, the sensor module is designed using the IR sensors having digital
output.

Fig. 8: Circuit Diagram of IR Sensor Array

The IR sensor modules are constructed by the following components -

a) IR Transmitters - The IR LEDs are used as IR transmitters in the circuit. An IR

LED is a type of LED which emits light in the Infra-Red frequency range. The infra-
red radiations are not visible to the human eye but can be seen by the lenses of a
camera. Operationally, IR LEDs are not much different from normal LEDs. They also
need a 3V DC for biasing and consume 20 mA current. They also need to be connected
with pull-up resistor in a circuit. In the module, IR LEDs are connected with 470
ohm pull-up resistors.

b) IR Receivers - The photodiodes are used as IR receivers in the circuit. A

photodiode is a type of diode which gets forward biased when light is incident on
it. It has a high resistance when no light is falling on it. When the intensity of
light incident on it increases, it starts getting forward biased and current starts
flowing through it. So, when light is incident on it, its resistance decreases and
there is less voltage drop across it. When light is not incident on it, its
resistance increases and there is higher voltage drop across it. The photodiode
looks exactly like an LED and may have a dark blue or black film on the outer
casing. The photodiodes are used in reverse bias configuration in the circuit.

Variable resistor - The variable resistors are used in the sensor circuit to form a
resistive voltage divider. The VCC is applied at the variable resistor side, so the
output from the voltage divider is proportional to the resistance of the variable
resistor and is inversely proportional to the resistance of the respective
photodiode. The use of variable resistor allows calibrating the sensor circuit to
properly detect the walls of the maze.

LM358M OPAM - The LM358M is used to add operational amplifiers in the circuit. The
LM358M is a general purpose Dual Operational Amplifier (Op-Amp). The OPAM are used
as negative voltage comparators in the circuit. The LM358M is an 8-pin IC with
following pin configuration -

Fig. 9: Table listing pin configuration of LM358M OPAM IC

The IC is used in single supply configuration in the circuit. For five IR sensor
modules, three LM358M ICs are used as each IC provides two OPAM circuits. Any
General Purpose Op-amp with similar gain and operating voltages like the LM324M can
also be used.

Fig. 10: Pin Diagram of LM358M OPAM IC

For making the sensor module, the IR transmitters are connected in series with
pull-up resistors of 470 ohm between VCC and ground in forward bias configuration.
The IR receivers are connected in series with variable resistors between VCC and
ground in reverse bias configuration forming a voltage divider circuit. The output
from the IR receivers (photodiodes) are drawn from the junction of cathode
terminals of the IR receiver and variable resistors. Such five pairs of IR receiver
and transmitter are connected between VCC and ground to form an IR sensor array.
The output from the five IR receivers is connected to the pins 6, 7, 11, 12 and 13
of the Arduino UNO via OPAM comparators. The sensor modules mounted on left side of
the robot are interfaced to pins 13 and 12 of the Arduino. The sensor modules
mounted on right side of the robot are interfaced to pins 7 and 6 of the Arduino.
The sensor mounted on the front side of the robot is interfaced to the pin 8 of the
Arduino.

Fig. 11: Image of IR Sensor Array

Fig. 12: Image showing IR Sensor Array Mounted on Robot

For proper digital output from the IR receivers, the output from the IR receivers
is first connected to the inverting input of an operational amplifier. The non-
inverting input of the operational amplifier is provided a reference voltage half
the HIGH digital logic (5V for the microcontroller circuit) by connecting two 4.7 K
ohm resistors between VCC and ground and connecting the resistive junction with the
non-inverting input. Then the output pin of the OPAM is connected to the
microcontroller pin. The same is done for all the five IR sensors. The operational
amplifier is used in the circuit for comparison of the output of IR receiver with
the HIGH and LOW digital logic where the reference voltage is set as the half of
the HIGH digital logic. So, each OPAM works as a voltage comparator to output a
digital logic at the corresponding Arduino pin.

The OPAM is used as negative voltage comparator in the circuit as the reference
voltage is set at the non-inverting input and the input voltage from the IR
receiver is applied at the inverting input. In such configuration, when the voltage
at the inverting input is lower than the reference voltage at the non-inverting
input, the output of the OPAM is HIGH while when the voltage at the inverting input
of the OPAM is higher than the reference voltage at the non-inverting input, the
output of the OPAM is LOW.

Fig. 13: Image showing OPAM Circuit assembled on Breadboard

The input from the IR sensor module is drawn from the junction of 10K variable
resistor and the IR receiver. When the IR radiation from the IR transmitter is
incident on walls, it is reflected back and absorbed by the IR receiver
(Photodiode). This reduces the resistance of the IR receiver, and there is less
voltage drop across it. As a result, more voltage is dropped across the variable
resistor which is output by the sensor. So there is less voltage output by the
sensor module, the voltage at the inverting input is less than the reference
voltage resulting in a HIGH output from the OPAM.

When the IR radiation from the IR transmitter is not incident on the wall, it is
gone away and no IR radiation is reflected back to the IR receiver (Photodiode).
This increases the resistance of the IR receiver, and there is more voltage drop
across it. As a result, less voltage is dropped across the variable resistor and
higher voltage is output by the sensor. When there is higher voltage output by the
sensor module, the voltage at the inverting input is higher than the reference
voltage resulting in a LOW output from the OPAM.
How the circuit works -
The maze solving robot detects the walls by using the IR sensor module and moves
the robot close to the wall, until it finds a no wall region. The array of IR
sensors has 2 IR sensors on the left side of the robot, two IR sensors on the right
side of the robot and one IR sensor in the front of the robot. The IR sensors allow
detecting side walls and obstacles in front of the robot.

When the robot finds a no wall space on left side i.e. sensors on left side of the
robot detect a no wall region, it turns left and when the robot finds a no wall
space on right side i.e. sensors on right side of the robot detect a no wall
region, it turns right. It keeps moving along a left side wall or right side wall
until it finds an obstacle in the path or find an escape route. When an obstacle is
detected in front of the robot, it moves away in the opposite direction until it
overcomes the obstacle. As the robot finds a path by detecting absence of a side
wall, it turns in that direction moving forward to solve the maze.

The robot can be moved forward, backward, left or right by implementing the
following input logic at the motor driver pins -

Fig. 14: Logic Table of L293D Motor Driver IC for Maze Solving Robot

The program code not only allows moving the robot in the maze, it also tracks and
measures the path followed by the robot and has function to replay the path
followed by the robot. Check out the program code to learn how it implements the
maze solving algorithm and traces its path along the maze.
Programming Guide -
The Arduino sketch begins with the declaration of the constants used for assigning
the Arduino pins interfaced with the IR sensors. It is followed by the declaration
of variables that are used to store digital output of each sensor and variables
representing the motor driver IC connections. Some variables are declared to store
the length of the path followed by the robot.

This is followed by calling a setup() function in which the pins interfaced with
the IR sensors are configured to digital input while pins interfaced with the motor
driver IC are configured to digital output. The default logics are assigned to the
pins in the same function. This function is only called when the robot is first
powered on to solve a maze.

After the setup() function, loop() function is called which iterates infinitely to
solve the maze and record the path of the robot. In the loop() function, first the
sensor values are read by calling readSensors() function and then the digital logic
output from the sensors are used to move the robot either in straight direction or
to follow left hand side wall. For keep moving the robot in straight direction
until it encounters a wall, straight() function is called. The robot starts by
following a left side wall otherwise.

void loop()
{
readSensors();
if(leftFarReading == LOW && rightFarReading == LOW &&
(CenterReading == HIGH || leftNearReading == HIGH) )
{
straight();
}
else
{
leftHandWall();
}
}
The robot keeps moving along the left side wall depending upon the presence or
absence of the wall and calls straight(), turnleft() and turnright() functions
depending upon different situations encountered by the robot. It calls the done()
function once it successfully escapes from the maze.

The turnLeft() function is used to move turn the robot on left side.
void turnLeft()
{
.
.
.
}
The turnRight() function is used to move turn the robot on left side.
void turnRight()
{
.
.
.
}
The straight() function is used to keep moving the robot in straight direction.
void straight()
{
.
.
.
}
The turnAround() function is used to overcome an obstacle in the path of the robot.
void turnAround()
{
.
.
.
}
The shortPath() method is used to trace the path followed by the robot and minimize
the path length where ever possible.
void shortPath()
{
.
.
.
}
The printPath() method prints the path followed by the robot.
void printPath()
{
.
.
.
}
The replay() method is used to replay the path followed by the robot.
void replay()
{
.
.
.
}

This completes the Arduino sketch for the Maze Solving Robot.
.