Building low cost vehicles for simple reactive behaviors

We describe how it is possible to build low cost autonomous vehicles by using only simple commercial electronic devices and toys. As suggested by Braitenberg (1984) in his experiments of synthetic psychology, we build two simple and compact vehicles, each capable of doing two different basic behaviors: the wall following (moving the vehicle at a constant distance from the wall on its left or right hand) and the obstacle avoidance (avoiding collision with obstacles during the path). Two different control systems have been developed and compared. The first system is controlled by an analogical circuit, whereas the second by a digital circuit. The main purpose of our work is to develop platforms for helping students to control and manipulate robots and computers. Following this activity children can learn by doing and, most of all, in a playful way