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 Robotics / Handy Board / 8652
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Subject: 
Re: Robot Positioning using Beacons
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.robotics.handyboard
Date: 
Wed, 1 May 2002 14:24:31 GMT
Viewed: 
7473 times
  
The problem with IR is that it tends to get everywhere, reflecting
off of surfaces etc, so it's hard to triangulate.

May I suggest a related but different approach.

Make your beacons out of hybrid IR/sonar transmitters.  The beacons
will periodically send a coded signal on the IR (e.g., "beacon 1")
as well as a simultaneous sonar ping.

The robot can then receive the IR pulse and the sonar ping, and
measure the time lag between them to determine distance from the
beacon.  (The IR pulse will travel more or less instantaneously,
while the sonar is ~1 ft per millisec.)

Put a couple of these in your room and you can triangulate.

fred

On Wednesday, May 1, 2002, at 01:34  AM, Chris Steiger wrote:

I am beginning to design a handyboard robot that, for starters,
can navigate
around a room.  The idea is that it will travel to objects whose
coordinates
within the room are predetermined and interact with them.

I plan to do this by triangulating the robots position within the
room.  I
would like to build three simple IR beacons consisting of a simple IR
emitting LED that can be adjusted to pulse at different rates.
These would
be mounted in opposite corners of the room and each will be assigned a
different pulse rate.  The robot will have three IR receivers to
detect the
beacons.  Each IR receiver will have it's own Sonic Rangefinder to
find the
distance to the beacon.  This would give the robot x, y, z
coordinates in
the room.  Any room with dimensions that exceed the maximum range
to the
range finders or IR receivers will have multiple beacons, but the
robot will
always have three "sensor arrays."  The unique pulse rates for
each beacon
will identify them, and there will be databases of coordinate
systems for
each possible combination of beacons being used (always the three
closest).
Each sensor array will rotate on a stationary point on the robot
to locate
the beacons.

I have a few questions:

    1.  First, are there any flaws in my idea?

    2.  What is the cheapest and simplest way to build the IR
beacons so
that I can assign them different pulse rates?

    3.  Will the sensor arrays also need to angle up and down as
the robot
moves closer and further from the beacons, or can the beacons remain in
their field of vision while they stay stationary?

    4.  What would be the best IR transmitters, IR receivers, and sonic
rangefinders for the job?

I appreciate any help anyone can give.  I'm new to robotics and my
education
has not yet caught up with my ambitions.

Thanks,

Chris Steiger




Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Robot Positioning using Beacons
 
That sounds good, but what do I use to drive each beacon, (e.g. send out the coded IR signal and sonar ping). Using a full blown microcontroller like the handyboard for each one would be incredibly expensive and wasteful. I only need a controller (...) (23 years ago, 1-May-02, to lugnet.robotics.handyboard)

Message is in Reply To:
  Robot Positioning using Beacons
 
I am beginning to design a handyboard robot that, for starters, can navigate around a room. The idea is that it will travel to objects whose coordinates within the room are predetermined and interact with them. I plan to do this by triangulating the (...) (23 years ago, 1-May-02, to lugnet.robotics.handyboard)

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