[Rickertsen2]

Originally Posted by Gdeaver

As far as autonomous navigation I've seen allot of posts on encoders, gyro's, accelerometers, Banner sensors but, nothing on Sharp IR distance sensors. Today I've been playing with a Sharp GP2Y0A02YK 5' max distance sensor mounted on a Vex servo with a square bot and encoders. Using only Easy C 1.1 I've got the square bot driving straight, random drive with object avoidance, Wall hugging with just the IR and several other autonomous strategies. The Sharp IR sensors put out a analog voltage proportional to distance. A simple and quick ADC gives an accurate distance measurement with a very narrow field of focus. Mounting the IR sensor on a servo allows a scan and mapping of the area in front of the robot. Have any other teams tried these sensors? I haven't seen any at competitions or remember any posts.
So here's a link to a site that sells them
http://www.hobbyengineering.com/SectionS.html
Any comments on their application on FRC robots?

I used a few of these once in a non-FIRST bot that wonders around the room avoiding obstacles. I also made a wall follower out of one of our practice bots using these. They work well from my experience. The only drawback is that they are not directly porportional to distance, but for most applicaitons this does not matter, and if it does, it they can be linearized fairly easily.