What sensors do you use?

[Donut]

Originally Posted by Bob Gross

All,
The MaxSonar-EZ1 (www.maxbotix.com) sensor was used on a number of First Robots. The text below was written to me (Bob Gross of Maxbotix) by a programming team mentor. I have shortened the text below some...
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"I am writing this mostly to just tell you how much I like the EZ1.

We used the EZ1 to perform ranging to the goal for speed control and automatic scoring.

I asked one of the students to find an ultrasonic sensor with analog outputs, and they found yours.

The sensor works well... running three of them at the same time, pointing in the same direction, ... multiplexing them...

I don't know if you know anything about the FIRST competitions, but there are 1000+ teams from around the world (mostly USA) that compete.

The organization sells a kit each season with most of the parts the team will need; you might be able to get your sensor included in the kit. Also, there is a Web site, http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/, where a lot of discussions about the FIRST robots takes place, you might be able to inject some information there.

I will be working on some sort of software platform or framework this year, for next year's project, and make it available to any team. I will include a software object around the EZ1 as part of the package.

(I am the programming team mentor for the Arroyo Grande (CA) High School robotics team, http://www.eaglerobotics.com/, and they just participated in the FIRST robotics competition in Sacramento, http://www.usfirst.org/robotics/.)"
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Again, I Bob Gross wanted to let you know about this product. It has only been out since Jan 2006, but it has been very well received. It has many features, is very low cost, and it is very easy to use!

I've already targeted this sensor for my plans for next year. Searching for different ultrasonics, I haven't found another one as versatile as this, especially for the price.

[mechanicalbrain]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

We did a lot of experimenting last year with using an optical mouse for position tracking. Mark Koors came up with the right lens for making it into a "telephoto" system, Wildstang's programmers contributed code for communicating directly with a specific mouse chip, and we had travel and turn sensing working okay as long as the height of the mouse above the carpet did not vary. However, as little as a millimeter of height change gave a significant difference in detected travel. I finally decided that it wasn't going to be possible to get consistent data from the scheme if the mouse wasn't physically in contact with the carpet.

Our robot last year used a trio of miniature "follower" omniwheels with encoders to give us feedback on forward/backward travel, sideways travel, and turn angle.

I found a guide by a person who used the parts from a mouse to create a successful odometer for his robot. The robot is small and slow so it might have the same distancing problems and/or speed issues and they just aren't as noticeable for his application. I highly recommend taking a look at it. http://home.comcast.net/~maccody/rob...1/croms-1.html I'm really impressed with his results.

[Astronouth7303]

one thing you forgot: a good ol' potentiometer.

[mechanicalbrain]

Originally Posted by Astronouth7303

one thing you forgot: a good ol' potentiometer.

I think that fits under "other" along with tachion particle sweepers.