Sharp IR range finder

[paulstreats]

I was just wondering if anybody thought that it would be advantageous to have an intermediary mcu connected to an ir rangefinder.

The function of it would be purely to take in data from the rangefinder and then convert the analogue voltage into a digital range output.

The idea would be for the intermediary mcu to be always taking in data from the rangefinder, and converting it into an actual range that can be worked with, the main mcu would send either a serial or i2c command to request the latest range.

It would take the conversion time away from the main mcu.

I was just thinking that all it would take is maybe a very cheap 8 pin mcu and maybe a pull up resistor for i2c communication, would it make a good supplementary tutorial, or do you think that there is a  market out there for such a device?

[Admin]

what about angle data in addition to the analog value?

but I dont know . . . because I'd like to have direct control of the angle when my robot is doing stuff . . .

however there is definitely a need for a ~$100-$300 SICK laser . . . if you could make one around that price range, you'd be rich!

[airman00]

however there is definitely a need for a ~$100-$300 SICK laser . . . if you could make one around that price range, you'd be rich!

definitely

how much do they go for , like 15 -20 grand?

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

yeah something like that...

That would be cool as hell to make a cheap one using an IR range finder...

All you would have to do is make it so the data coming from the IR sensor corresponds to the correct degree of view. So that it knows that what the sensor is saying is 90° in front of it, is actually 90° in front of it rather than off to the side.

[dunk]

I was just wondering if anybody thought that it would be advantageous to have an intermediary mcu connected to an ir rangefinder.

i'm using this approach with my current bot. each task has a separate microcontroller. the advantage is you don't have to worry about changing the code on your whole bot when you want to make a change to one module as long as you keep the way you interface the module the same.
as Admin suggests, if you include a servo in the module for scanning you could have it continuously scan it's surroundings so there is always a map ready for download.

however there is definitely a need for a ~$100-$300 SICK laser

i'll be posting an update on the progress of my laser ranging method over the next few days.
(see my post in this thread: http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=2220.0)
i'm currently able to draw fairly accurate maps of my bot's surroundings.
i'm not saying it's as effortless as SICK but it's within the $100-$300 budget.
it also has the advantage of being able to tell you what colour the detected objects are (as well as the ground between the bot and the object) which is useful for localisation as well as drawing maps with accurate colour information.


dunk.