Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!bu.edu!att!iuvax!maytag!watmath!mwtilden
From: mwtilden@watmath.waterloo.edu (M.W.Tilden, Hardware)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Re: Proximity sensors
Keywords: Your experiences, advice needed
Message-ID: <1990Oct16.145628.21008@watmath.waterloo.edu>
Date: 16 Oct 90 14:56:28 GMT
References: <chrisp.655433520@cricket>
Organization: University of Waterloo
Lines: 29

In article <chrisp.655433520@cricket> chrisp@bilby.cs.uwa.oz.au (Christopher Pudney) writes:
>
>	We are interested in eqipping a manipulator with some sort of
>proximity sensing and would be grateful for any advice from persons who
>have used proximity sensing of one sort or another.  Ideally we are 
>looking for a sensor which will be able to provide the direction and 
>distance to the nearest object (Knock/touch sensors would be considered
>a last resort).  
>
>	If you have any information you think we would find helpful, please
>don't hesitate in letting me know.

At the recent North American Micromouse championships (see forthcoming
article for details), I was impressed that Bill Ottman's mouse used 
infra-red LEDs and focused IR detectors to successfully distance objects
as far as 4 inches away.  The output was amplified and fed into a ADC
which then fed a look up table for true luminosity/distance correlation.

Of course, you have not specified the scale of your implementation.  How
large is your manipulator field?

Is all.


-- 
Mark Tilden: _-_-_-__--__--_      /(glitch!)  M.F.C.F Hardware Design Lab.
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     |__-_-_-|               \/               (519) - 885 - 1211 ext.2454,
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