I’d like to suggest making an easy to install IR Sensor array that can attach to mBots, etc. The array would have three pairs of IR sensors (transmit/receive) with the following arrangement:
The IR pair on the left is actually pointed to detect a wall on the right and vice-versa. This would be very helpful when teaching maze-solving as part of a STEM program.
I as thinking of adding the servo to the ultrasonic sensor for a “look around” kind of approach.
I wonder if the crosstalk of the IR sensors would prevent an array from working right.
Not really sure about the crosstalk issue. I’ve got some individual IR Sensors that I’ll test with here. It’s an arrangement that I’ve seen before though. The trick might be to get the right spacing between the sensors. I’ll try to fiddle with this over the week to see what I find. Regardless, there would need to be additional circuitry on the board to multiplex the sensor readouts to a point that would make it simple to incorporate into mBlock.
The sensor arrangement makes it possible to potentially mount the array where the line follower sensor is mounted with an eye towards the side sensors ignoring the front projections on the mBot. if The sensors are arranged in an outward arc, the array might need to be mounted higher up to avoid getting a false positive due to the front projections on the mBot.
Alternatively, I guess it could be set up on the front projections with the proper mounting hardware, but that would potentially bump up the cost…