TIMES HONGKONG, MALANG – Students of the Electrical Engineering Department of State Polytechnic of Malang (Polinema) have developed intelligent Line Follower and Transporter robots. 

Both robots have their respective roles. Line Follower is an intelligent robot that is able to follow a predetermined line with precision. The way it works lies in the photodiode which acts as a light sensor and sends data to the microcontroller to be translated into line following movements. 

Meanwhile, the Transporter Robot is a reliable carrier designed to move objects with a controller. It functions similar to a forklift, but on a smaller scale. These two types of robots are also widely used for various types of industries that have been implemented in real workplaces.

Ahmad Nauval Aprilian, one of the team members, explained that these two tools are the result of research by Electrical Engineering students for final assignments and competitions.

The manufacturing process begins with a careful design stage, including electrical design, component selection, programming, and frame building. The students paid close attention to small details in order to produce a work that was maximized, efficient, and functional.

"The biggest challenge is finding the right components and designing an effective program," said Ahmad, Saturday (13/7/2024).

The challenge does not seem like a big deal to them. They consider the problem as a motivation so that they can find out where they went wrong and fix it and develop it immediately.  The journey of these tools does not end here, but they have future plans to further develop these tools to make them more perfect and efficient. 

"We want to develop the controller to be more practical by using it from a Playstation 3 stick to a smartphone or other controller," Ahmad said. In addition, they also intend to improve the effectiveness of the Line Follower programming for a more accurate sensor reader, making it easier to set up when in use. 

This advancement aims to provide users with greater flexibility and easy to use, while increasing the robot's performance to a greater extent.

With the existence of innovations such as Line Follower and Robot Transporter by Electrical Engineering students, it is hoped that it can motivate other students to show other works that have great potential in applying advanced technology that can increase productivity on campus and be able to lift the good name of the State Polytechnic of Malang on an internal campus and on a national scale. (*)