After giving it a new brain yesterday, today was Photius’s day for new kicks, and some work on the positioning of the side sensors.  We had oriented them vertically, because that gives us a smaller beamwidth in the horizontal plane, but this proved after much testing last night to not be the best thing.  So today I made some plates to mount the sensors horizontally.  This effectively eliminated the blind-spot between the front and side sensors.

With the help of the machinist at school, we found a rubber inner-tube that just stretches over the wheels, giving Photius rubber feet that handle the slick floor much better.  After putting the rubber on the wheels, the bot didn’t run into the walls but once or twice.  Once I had the sensors redone, it hasn’t hit the walls yet.  It has a bit of trouble around the living room, with all of the different obstacles in there, but as long as we keep it in the little ring of 2×4s, it does fine.

Oh, and to my girlfried – I love you.