An autonomous robot for wall mazes

Abstract

This dissertation describes the project implementation of a maze-solving Arduinobased robot with ultrasonic sensors. The goal of the project is to create a complete maze-solving system that combines flood-fill path-finding and PID wall-following algorithms. The robot navigates the maze autonomously. It uses a PID controller to keep a constant distance from the walls and a flood-fill path-finding algorithm to effectively discover the shortest route to the destination. An extensive analysis of relevant literature on various wall-following techniques and path-finding algorithms is carried out. Based on this knowledge, a maze-solving robot is designed and implemented using Arduino as the control platform. The robot is equipped with ultrasonic sensors for wall detection and distance measurement. The PID-controlled wall-following algorithm is implemented to ensure the robot keeps a constant distance from the maze walls. To find the shortest path from the start to the goal, the flood-fill technique is implemented as a path-finding algorithm. Extensive testing and evaluation of both components of the maze-solving algorithm are conducted using a physical wall maze. The robot's performance is then assessed using various evaluation metrics based on literature. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the implemented algorithms.