

Light Sensors

Each robot has four light sensors, one mounted on each side of the robot. That way, they can tell which side is facing the most or least light. Usually, the operating system takes all the values from the sensors, averages them, then finds the one that is the furthest away from that average. The Ant Farm is built next to a very large window that faces east. As a result, with the lab lights off, the brightest light source is always to the east. The robots can use this as a reference and then find all the other directions. This wasn't an original idea of mine. Real ants use the Sun for navigation too.


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