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Subject: 
Re: Another DIY sensor
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.robotics
Date: 
Thu, 16 Nov 2000 19:25:15 GMT
Original-From: 
Stephen J Baker <sjbaker@link.com^IHateSpam^>
Reply-To: 
sjbaker@#saynotospam#link.com
Viewed: 
726 times
  
So I decided to investigate DIY
rotation sensors. The first two or three simply didn't work. Then
I hit upon the magic recipe;

I made a slotted disk using overhead transparency material in the
laser printer. A simpe disk with 25 black segments.

Then I found that digikey sell an Omron dual optical interrupter
module.

Did you consider buying a $5 computer mouse and gutting it?

That will give you not one but TWO slotted disks and TWO
dual optical detectors.  It's hard to imagine another
solution for $2.50 per sensor!

IIRC, most cheap mice are ~200 clicks per inch - but there is
considerable 'gearing'. The difference between the diameter
of the mouse ball and the cylinder it rolls against is large
- so I guess the shaft encoder has got to be worse than 200
counts per revolution - or even the 100 counts per rev that you
are getting.

I've never tried this...someone should!

What would be really cool would be to find a way to get the
RCX to read RS-232 - then you could just duct-tape the whole
mouse underneath your robot!

The baud rate on a mouse is probably pretty low - I wonder
if you could read the serial data stream in software?

----
Steve Baker                      (817)619-2657 (Vox/Vox-Mail)
L3Com/Link Simulation & Training (817)619-2466 (Fax)
Work: sjbaker@link.com           http://www.link.com
Home: sjbaker1@airmail.net       http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1



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