CHAPTER 23
The Motherboard
Throughout the book, you’ve slowly been building and testing a line-following circuit on a solderless
breadboard. That’s a good way of designing and proving a circuit, because there’s no reason to solder
something together until it appears to be functional.
Some builders attach their solderless breadboard to a mobile platform and pronounce their robot complete.
Unfortunately, the vibrations and handling can cause the wires and components to slip out of the holes, either
intermittently or completely. Ultimately, the robot functions poorly (if at all) and has a limited lifespan.
In this chapter, you’ll transfer your line-following circuit to a board and solder it all together. Don’t
attempt soldering a circuit until you’ve finished soldering the switches and motors in the prior chapter, as
you’ll perform better with some soldering experience.
The Line-Following Circuit
The final line-following circuit is presented as a wiring diagram in Figure 23-1.