Scribbler vs TrakBot

I got a Scribbler robot for around $80 USD at Fry's

I took it home, put it down on the lab floor and let it run the same kind of course I let all my robots run around in... My Lab, and the Outside Deck.

The scribbler was an "out of the box" disappointment because:
1. It's range finders are set too high to work well in my Lab/Office, it worked OK, out on the deck.
2. It backs up and seems to get stuck backing up. (Unless you are outside. It needs several feet of freedom.)

BUT!!!! The scribbler is programmable! So after hacking the demo code, I found if you shift the frequency of the Infrared Generators, I could cut the sensitivity. After playing around with the time of running, how long it backs up, and stuff like that, I got it to run pretty well.

Out of the box, the Scribbler is a lot less fun than the TrakBot, but I'll let you judge for yourself.


Figure 1. The Scribbler Robot "Out of the Box" experience

Compared to the Scribbler, TrakBot found it's way around nicely. Because it uses the Sharp IR send/reciever pair, it works better in sunlight, or bright room lights. And, best of all, TrakBot sees most black objects as well as any IR combo I've played around with.



The Scoring Points: (In no particular order)
Fun Factor - Does it get around the area and find it's way around obstacles?
Stuckness - Does the bot get stuck easily (higher number means worse score)
Smartness - Can it get out of jams easily
Potential - What can you add to the bot?
Jam Factor - Another term for Stuckness.
Autonomy - Degree of human interference required to run a course