Sensors for micromouse

[mohit sharma]

Hey can anyone help me to know wht type of sensors to use for micromouse. Till now i came to know that most people use proximity sensors but can we use simple led & photoresistor in it. And plz explian how proximity sensors works & what are there output & how canwe use its output ?

[Pratheek]

If you want digital output that will tell you if there is a wall facing the sensor or not there are a lot  of options.
If you want sensors which tell you if there is a wall facing the sensor or not and in addition to that the distance between the sensor and the wall you have fewer options.
You can use Sharp IR sensors to get range but they are expensive and their reaction time is slow(around 40 ms).
You can can use sonar sensors, but you need to find one with a narrow beam angle. They are also expensive and hard to get.
The best option is to use IR+photodiode sensors. There is an article in the the sensors section of SOR about these sensors.

[Hewhowalk]

Proximity sensors will not give you any knowledge of how far away the obstacle is, just that it's there. I don't know what material the maze is built in (I suppose that you talk about micromouse as in the micromouse contest) but I would go for either capacitive sensors or maybe even a mechanical microswitch as a proximiy sensor. Especially the microswitch is extremly simple to use.

Sharp IR sensors will probably work aswell.