CHAPTER 1 ■ WELCOME ROBOT INVENTOR!Indicator Lights
Lots of tiny lights adorn most robots. LEDs (light-emitting diodes) indicate power status, motors engaging,
sensor detection (see Figure 1-10), and decision-making. This display of the robot’s state makes error
correction and design improvements a lot easier. Of course, the lights also make a robot look more fascinating.
LEDs are simple to use. They’re inexpensive, lightweight, cool to the touch, and are being produced in
an increasing variety of colors.
Miscellaneous Components
You’d be amazed at how quickly the connections to the brains can get used up. A few support chips are
commonly used to gather connections together before reaching a microcontroller. Support chips can also
preprocess signals (such as from sensors and buttons) to decrease the workload of the brains.
Figure 1-9. Motor control circuit with MOSFET chips and Schottky diodes
Figure 1-10. A row of LEDs for target detection