An electrooptical proximity sensor capable of measuring the distance and two-dimensional orientation of an object's surface is presented. The robustness of the sensor, targeted for utilization in robotic active sensing, is achieved via the development of a novel amplitude-modulated-based electrooptical transducer, an electronic-interface circuit that provides very good noise immunity and a wide dynamic operating range, and an effective multiregion calibration process that significantly improves pose-estimations at near proximities. An experimental setup was designed and implemented for the development and verification of the proposed proximity sensor in a simulated robotic environment. Experimental results using a variety of calibrated surfaces and materials are presented and discussed. It is shown that average accuracies of 0.01 mm and 0.03 can be achieved. The robustness of the proximity sensor is also verified for potential use in grasping objects with a priori noncalibrated surfaces.
A new and practical opto-electronic sensor interface is presented. It consists of a transmitter and a receiver for sensors measuring optical attenuation. Emphasis is given to commonlyneglected background-noise-interference and dynamic-rangelimitation problems. The design of the electronic circuitry allows sensors to operate in manufacturing environments. A modulated laser-diode, together with optical and electrical filtering, reduces the optical noise to less than a measurable level, even in extremely bright "light-infested" surroundings. In addition, a novel approach is introduced which substantially increases the sensor's dynamic range. The power of the light-source is monitored in a dynamic intensity-control loop designed to perform "floating-point" measurements according to the attenuation in the optical path. The sensor acquires the combined dynamic ranges of the detector and light-source circuits.
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