With the use of ultrasound the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 & NXT Ultrasonic sensors could detect the distance to an object. You can use it in many different ways most of them very interesting and fun. Some of them a little more challenging, but rewarding.
We are introducing the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Ultrasonic Sensor. The first program is actually to detect an object and stop near it, at about 4 inches/10 centimeters. The ultrasonic sensor could be used during robotics competitions, but most of its use is for experiments.
LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Crane robot is used to lift, move and load cargo on a cargo truck. There is a mechanism for grabbing a cargo load (eg a blue ball). Crone is also a tower crane and there are balancing wheels on the opposite site of the grabbing mechanism. It was an ultrasonic sensor.
Follow an object using the LEGO Mindstorms Ultrasonic Sensor. Object moves away, the robot moves with the object. The program is very useful if you are doing STEM classes and you want to demonstrate results. People react very well to a robot following you like a dog for example.
The robot detects an object. After the object is remove we want to make the LEGO robot move forward.
Stop on detecting an object with the Ultrasonic sensor and move after detecting there is no object. Join of the previous two video tutorials in one
This tutorial is about how to follow a wall with an ultrasonic sensor. The example is with a border from a FIRST LEGO League (FLL) competition, but could also easily be applied to other competitions and problems.
In the first LEGO tutorial we started following a wall with the Ultrasonic Sensor. In this tutorial we would improve the program, remove the zig zag movement and make it very smooth.
Tasks for school STEM classes or home exersie. Try to solve them to submit your solutions below.
We have previously aligned to lines with the Color Sensors. In this series we are doing the same program, but with Ultrasonic Sensors that are aligning the robot to a Wall.
Arriving at a final solution. There is still room for improvement on using the Mindstorms Ultrasonic Sensor for aligning to walls, but we hope the whole five videos could give you a good idea of how to start with a problem and reach a solution.
Implementing the next logic for aligning to the border when we approach the border from the right.
This video lesson shows a very interesting specific example on how to use the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Ultrasonic Sensor. The sensor detects if the catapult is loaded or if we have just fired an element. At the end of the lesson I also offer an interesting challenge that you could use in your classroom or at home.
If you get to a solution that is too complex you should always try to improve it. This is what we are doing here. Arriving at a solution for aligning to the wall that has become too complex.
We explore some common mistakes when a program is developed and becomes complex. We then try to remove part of this complexity.
There is no block for programming the Ultrasonic Sensor in the retail version of the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 software. In this video tutorial we will show you how you can download & import such blocks in order to use the sensor.