Looking to buy some sensors. Looking to buy a Gyro and Accelerometer. Looking for something that is not going to be a pain to hook up to the crio.
It going to be for control of the drivetrain/robot. I dont know what would be best for this type of application 300degree 150degree, ect and for acc 1g 1.5 g.
They have alot of different one just so many i don’t know what to chose.
Any help i would appreciate
The kit of parts does come with an accelerometer and a gyro, plus “microswitches,” basically touch sensors. But if you want to buy more, I know of RobotShop, Trossen Robotics, Paralax, and yes, Spark Fun.
For gyro, I would go the full 360 since your robot will be going all over the place. As for an accelerometer, I wouldn’t know; check the specs of FIRST’s accelerometer for an example. It seems to be a 3g, 3 axis. Depending on what you are using the accel. for, you might get a 1 or 2 axis. But I would still recommend getting a 3 axis because you might need that capability in later years when you re-use the sensor.
Here’s the FIRST Sensor Manual, very helpful.
As for hooking up, I’m assuming either all/most sensors will be universal and the same as FIRST’s sensors, but more likely they are only similar and there might be some differences. You’ll have to look at the sensors you buy, see how they work and how you interface with them. If they won’t work with the WPI libraries, there’s always the digital input libraries that you can use to custom-receive information from the sensor. I don’t think it will ever be that bad, though.
Hope it works out for you!
We buy most of our extra stuff from Mouser. They have a great selection of sensors.
We’ve used sparkfun sensors for several years now. Gyros we’ve used both 150 and 300degree/sec models (ADXRS610 & 613) with no problems. It all depends on the expected rotational speed you will encounter. Remember, just because the robot doesn’t turn faster than 150degrees/sec., that doesn’t mean the robot can’t be impacted while turning. When in doubt used the more sensitive gyros, they are the same price.
Accelerometers we’ve used the ADXL320 5g units. Again sensitivity is selected for the forces you expect to see or measure accurately. If the accelerometers are being used to measure robot movement stay with lower g units. We’ve used some units to detect impacts, which we would use to change our autonomous program on the fly to counter the collision. There we used higher g sensors to get a better idea of how great the impact was without having the sensor overscale.
The Sharp IR proximity sensors have worked well for lift position in previous years too.
The encoders from Andymark are our preferred choice after last season.
I also love Sparkfun because they have one of the few websites where the product page tells you the number of units they have in stock before actually ordering the product. Nothing is more agrivating than ordering something online only to find out after you’ve placed the order, that the item is out of stock and on back order.
Also, the Sparkfun sensors can be considered COTS parts. You would need to remove your wiring harness after a competition season and reinstall the next time you need that type of sensor, if your team is low on funds. The FIRST sensors can only be used in the year they are provided because they are custom sensors for FIRST, not COTS parts.
Just the standard disclaimer to not spend large amounts of money on things until you see the rules and verify they are legal this year. $25 sensors are not in this category… (expensive, that is)