Reproduce the sonar sensor system of robot vaccum cleaner

[doly77]

Hi,

As the title say, I would like to reproduce the sonar sensor system that we can find in most robots vaccum cleaner.
It doesn't seem very difficult to reproduce but I'm a beginner and I need some help in order to know what component to use.


I already know that I need :

- 4 Devantech SRF04 Ultrasonic Range Finder
- 1 Parallax BASIC Stamp 2 Microcontroller
- 1 Parallax BASIC Stamp 2 Carrier Board

What should I use in order to powered the BASIC Stamp 2 and the 4 SRF04 ?

Do I need anything else ?


Thanks

[rbtying]

Most robotic vacuum cleaners don't have sonar... at least, the Roomba series doesn't, nor the Neato ones.

Anyways, you probably want a battery pack and an appropriately rated switching regulator--those ultrasonic rangefinders can draw quite a bit of current when generating pulse. You might be able to get away with a linear regulator though, since it's a very low duty cycle load.

[doly77]

Most robotic vacuum cleaners don't have sonar... at least, the Roomba series doesn't, nor the Neato ones.

Anyways, you probably want a battery pack and an appropriately rated switching regulator--those ultrasonic rangefinders can draw quite a bit of current when generating pulse. You might be able to get away with a linear regulator though, since it's a very low duty cycle load.

Thanks for your answer.

I was thinking add an external 5V Regulator.

You said that most robotic vacuum cleaners don't have sonar, do you know what they use instead ?

[rbtying]

Roombas crash into things and use a bump sensor to detect the obstacle, then turn away from it. The Neato XV-series uses a scanning laser rangefinder and mapping algorithms; however, there's no cheap way to do this--people actually buy the Neato 'bots to get the laser scanner, since the cheapest commercial version is around $1100.

[doly77]

Ok, thanks for your answers.