Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!rutgers!apple!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!van-bc!ubc-cs!mgobbi From: mgobbi@cs.ubc.ca (Mike Gobbi) Newsgroups: comp.robotics Subject: Re: ideas for inclination sensors Message-ID: <10134@ubc-cs.UUCP> Date: 18 Oct 90 02:05:19 GMT References: <3717@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> Sender: news@cs.ubc.ca Organization: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada Lines: 27 A couple ideas for detecting inclination immediately pop to mind. The first (and easiest) method would be similar to your "optical shaft encoder" idea. Take a variable resistor (the rotating kind) attached to the pendulum. A voltage is applied through the resistor and then fed into an Analog to Digital Converter. For instance, using a 100K resistor (set so that with the pendulum vertically downward resistance = 50K increasing counterclockwise) and an opposing resister (at 50K, increasing clockwise), connect the leads from the voltage source to one resister. From the other end of the resister connect both to the second resistor and the ADC. Finally, connect the free end of the second resistor to ground. What we have is a voltage divider, which passes (given a 12-volt supply) 12 volts when the device is rotated 180 degrees forward and 0 volts when rotated 180 degrees backward. Once fed through (say) an 8-bit ADC you get out values from 0 to 255, with 128 being horizontal. ADC * 360 / 256 - 180 = angle robot is inclined FORWARD. <> -- __ /..\ In quest of knowledge.... --mm--mm-- Mike Gobbi