How it works
The parts of a robot on one small two-wheeled robot, the kind built in school. Start with the whole robot from the side, then look down on its circuit board, then turn it over.
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Four jobs, shared out
Every mobile robot needs four things: a controller, sensors, actuators and power. Here the microcontroller is the controller. The bump sensors, line sensors and encoders are the sensors. The motors are the actuators, and the batteries are the power. The chassis, wheels and caster hold it all up, and the motor driver, power switch, buzzer and LED sit on the circuit board.
- Sensors take information in and motors act on it. The microcontroller sits between the two.
- Turn the robot over to find the line sensors: they face the floor.
Questions and answers
What are the main parts of a robot?
A controller, sensors, actuators and a power supply. On this robot those are the microcontroller, the bump and line sensors, the motors and the batteries, all fixed to a chassis that rolls on two wheels and a caster.
What are the body parts of a robot?
A robot's body is its chassis, the frame the other parts are fixed to. On it sit the controller, the sensors, the motors that move it and the batteries. A robot arm also has a working end, called an end effector, often a gripper.
What does a sensor do on a robot?
A sensor gives the robot information about its surroundings or about itself. A bump sensor reports a touch, a line sensor measures light reflected from the floor, and an encoder counts how far a wheel has turned.
What is an actuator in a robot?
An actuator turns stored energy into movement. On most robots the actuators are electric motors: here, the two motors that turn the wheels.