The lightcar race

Are you up for a challenge? Built the best performing autonomous car through a course as fast as possible and prove that your design is the best!

The LightCar Race is a competition focused on designing the best-performing car and creating the most effective code for a specific challenge. Your car must follow a LeadCar, which is pre-programmed to drive a set path with varying speeds and turns. The path will be repeated as many times as your car can manage without interference, with a short stop between each run.

You will use two photoresistors to follow the LeadCar, which has a built-in light source at its rear (as shown below). Combining input from both sensors will provide optimal tracking. The ultimate goal is to follow the LeadCar as closely and accurately as possible throughout the course and to stop as close as possible to 10 cm behind the LeadCar after the first loop.

The cars' performance will be judged from 4 categories, with a grade from 1 til 10.

The first category is the Best Looking Code, and the criteria are:

• Neatest look 

• Using functions 

• Good variable names 

  • Only uses one type of variable method 

  • Describing names

• Easily adjustable

• Complexity in a simple way

The second category is the one who follows best, and the criteria are: 

• Able to follow the longest in one single loop

• Able to follow several loops

• Has the smoothest driving 

The third category is Stopping The Closest, and the criteria are: 

• Able to follow through a complete loop

• Stopping the closest to 10 cm behind the Leader-Car after the first loop

• Maintain still for as long as the Leader-Car stands still

The fourth and last category is The Most Creative Design, and the criteria are:

• Has a creative and original design

• Holds all the necessary components

• Has to be drivable 

Using two photoresistors, your vehicle is designed to follow a LeadCar as accurately as possible. The drive computer is an Arduino Uno, which reads sensor data and controls the motors and, optionally, a servo. The Arduino board is primarily programmed in C, but MATLAB Simulink may also be used as an alternative.

Design Rules

This project can be completed with simple programming and empirical testing. However, if you want to take your car to the next level, there is a lot of control theory you can explore to optimize your code. A brief introduction to some mechanical aspects to consider, along with important mathematical calculations, is presented in this presentation.

Below, you’ll also find a beginner’s guide to the Arduino IDE. This is a great starting point for learning Arduino basics, which will be helpful when programming for this project.