ATD: Design and Construction of the Autonomous Test Driver

The following report outlines the design guidelines associated with ATD: The Autonomous Test Driver. ATD’s design allows it to quickly navigate a walled course, utilizing fast integrated sensors to accurately detect the course and to a rudimentary job in learning to navigate the course. After a slow first traversal of a course, when ATD learns the required sequence and locations of turns, on subsequent loops around the track, he will drive the course aggressively, attempting to complete it as quickly as possible. ATD was by an Atmega128 microcontroller integrated with an small array of commercial rangefinders in order to avoid the track walls and a gyroscope to record information about the course turns. Crude course mapping and a slight speed increase were implemented. ATD also utilized LCD and LED for debugging feedback and for demonstration purposes.