Conditions and Line

Following
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Using “if” and “else”
●
Color Sensor
●
Color Decoder
●
Following lines
 EV3 vs Spike Prime

●
We’ll be using the EV3 Classroom software for demonstration
●
Programming blocks in Spike Prime are not exactly the same, but
are very similar
●
I’m sure you’ll figure it out! Let us know if you need help.

EV3 Classroom Spike Prime

Starting a New Project

Select “My Projects” to see

your past projects

Start a “New Project”

 “if” and “else”
This space is for the condition

“if” the “condition” is true,

then do this...

“else” do this...

Find it under “Control”

 Color Sensor
Set the port number correctly Choose which color you want
(...check where you plugged to test for
in your color sensor)

Notice the hexagonal shape

of this block?

This is a condition block. It is

either True or False.

It fits inside the condition space

of an “if / else” block.
Find it under “Sensors”
 Example 1
When the program starts...

Check if the color sensor

is seeing red...

If it is, play “hello”...

“else”, play beep

Try it out!
The Spike Prime will have a ●
Add a color sensor to your robot
different set of sound. Use ●
Run the program on your robot
whatever sound you like! ●
Try different colors and sounds
●
What did you observe?
Example 2
When the program starts...

Check if the color sensor is seeing red...

If it is, play “hello”...

Check if the color sensor is seeing blue...

If it is, play “Woof!”...

“else”, play beep

You can combine “if / else” to

check for multiple conditions

Try it out!
 Color Decoder

Robot
“Meow!” “Woof!” Stops

Note:
●
The colors and the distance between each color may be randomized.
●
You can choose whatever sound you like
 What should the robot do?

●
If it sees red, play “meow”
●
If it sees blue, play “woof”
●
If it sees black, stop
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Otherwise, it should move forward
●
Important: It should keep repeating these!
 How to program?

●
Let’s think about it...
– Many conditions (eg. red, blue, black)
●
Need to use multiple “if / else”
– Need to keep checking the color
●
Need to use a loop
 Color Decoder
Don’t forget to set the movement motors

Check if the color sensor is seeing red...

If it is, play “meow”...

Repeat
Forever Check if the color sensor is seeing blue...

If it is, play “Woof!”...

Check if the color sensor is seeing black...

If it is, stop moving

“else”, move forward

Notice we didn’t tell the robot how far

to move. We just tell it to move straight.
Try it out!
 Line Following
●
Commonly used to guide robots
●
Uses color sensor and “if / else”

Line following book drop robot in Tampines Library

 Line Following
●
Trick: The robot doesn’t follow the center of
the line, it follows the edge of the line

Correct Wrong
Robot follows Robot should
edge of line not follow
center of line
 Line Following

If robot sees white, it is too far If robot sees black, it is too far
to the right... to the left...

...so it should turn left. ...so it should turn right

2 States Line Follower

Optional: Set the speed to 30%

Check if the color sensor is seeing black...

If it is, move right

“else”, move left

This is called a “2-states line follower” program,

because the robot only have 2 states;
“move left” and “move right”

Try it out!
 Problems
●
Problem:
– Movement is slow and jerky
●
Why?:
– Robot ONLY move left and right. It never goes
straight.
●
Can we have 3 states?
– Black, White, and Gray? (...there’s no “Gray”)
 Solution
Check the intensity of the reflected light!

Comparison symbol: Limits

Set the port
< : Less than Black : Around 0%
= : Equal White : Around 100%
> : Greater than

Important
Black should be close to 0%, but won’t be exactly 0%
White should be close to 100%, but won’t be exactly 100%

You’ll need to test it out to find the actual values

 3 States Line Follower
Robot sees Light Sensor Value
white (> 70%):
Turn Left 100 (White)

Pseudo Code
Turn Left
IF Value > 70:
Turn Left
Robot sees half white, 70 ELSE IF Value > 30:
half black (30% to 70%): Go Straight
Go Straight Go Straight ELSE
30 Turn Right

Turn Right
Robot sees
black (< 30%):
Turn Right 0 (Black)
3 States Line Follower
Light Sensor Value

100 (White)

Pseudo Code
Turn Left
IF Value > 70:
Turn Left
70 ELSE IF Value > 30:
Go Straight
Go Straight ELSE
30 Turn Right

Turn Right
Try it out!
0 (Black)
 Pseudo Code
Light Sensor Value Pseudo Code
Looks like real programming
code, but it won’t actually
100 (White) run.

Pseudo Code Programmers use it to

Turn Left explain how to program
IF Value > 70:
Turn Left without providing the exact
70 ELSE IF Value > 30: details.
Go Straight
Go Straight ELSE As we progress, we’ll start
30 Turn Right providing more examples in
pseudo code without the
blocks code.
Turn Right

0 (Black)
 Can we do better?
●
2-states
– Slow and Jerky
●
3-states
– Smoother, but still a little jerky
●
Can we have 5 states?
 5 States Line Follower
Try it out! Light Sensor Value
●
Read the pseudo code
●
Try and write the actual 100 (White)
program using that Sharp Left
80 Pseudo Code
IF Value > 80:
Slight Left
Turn Sharp Left
60 ELSE IF Value > 60:
Turn Slight Left
Go Straight ELSE IF Value > 40:
40 Go Straight
ELSE IF Value > 20:
Slight Right Turn Slight Right
20 ELSE
Turn Right
Sharp Right
0 (Black)
Slight Left Sharp Left
 Can we do even better?
●
You can make...
– 7 states, 9 states, etc
– ...but it’s probably not necessary
●
More advanced method:
– Proportional control
– Uses math equation instead of “if / else”
– Better than 5 states in some cases, but not all
– We’ll leave that for a future lesson...
 Summary
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Use “if / else” to choose what to do

●
“is color” block to check color

●
“reflected light intensity” block to
check brightness
 Summary
●
Line Following:
Robot follows edge of line

●
Line Following:
Can use more states to make
movement smoother
 Copyright
●
Created by A Posteriori LLP
●
Visit http://aposteriori.com.sg/ for more tips and
tutorials
●
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.