Ultrasonic Sensor Question (FRC+VEX parts)

[gblake]

Originally Posted by Ringo5tarr

My team is looking to upgrade our sensors to assist manual shooting before our offseason event, we used to have two Ultrasonics taped on (the whole electrical was real janky), both of which have been completely rekt and couldn't successfully help due to a lack of programming time. So I'm looking for Ultrasonic sensors we can use, mainly I'm asking if it's possible to use VEX rangefinders, since we already have a decent amount as is. I heard that they can give bad readings and can be fried with too much vibration. Is this true? And how difficult is it to wire up and program (compared to other ultrasonics)?

I think your first step involves deciding the range you want the sensors to work over, and then comparing that to the sensor specs.

If the VEX sensors you have aren't well-suited for your job, take a look at MaxBotix, their website has good specs for their products, and some of my colleagues had a good experience using a MaxBotix sensor (in a *friendly* environment, not on an FRC robot ...).

Blake

[arichman1257]

The Parallax ping sensor is very easy to use on an Arduino but not so much on a RoboRIO. So if you have them lying around try not to use them for FRC. They're a pain. The kind we use whenever we use an ultrasonic sensor is 5 pins. It's either an SRF04 or 05. They're easy to use and program on an FRC robot. here's a link https://www.robot-electronics.co.uk/htm/srf05tech.htm