Robot Sensing and Sensors

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 References
• Sensors for mobile robots: theory and
applications, H. R. Everett, A. K. Peters
Ltd, C1995, ISBN: 1-56881-048-2

• Handbook of Modern Sensors: Physics,

Designs and Applications, 2nd edition,
Jacob Fraden, AIP Press/Springer, 1996.
ISBN 1-56396-538-0.

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 Some websites
• http://www.omega.com/ (sensors + hand-helds)
• http://www.extech.com/ (hand-helds)
• http://www.agilent.com/ (instruments, enormous)
• http://www.keithley.com/ (instruments, big)
• http://www.tegam.com/ (instruments, small)
• http://www.edsci.com/ (optics ++)
• http://www.pacific.net/~brooke/Sensors.html
(comprehensive listing of sensors etc. and links)

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 What is Sensing ?
• Collect information about the world
• Sensor - an electrical/mechanical/chemical
device that maps an environmental attribute to a
quantitative measurement
• Each sensor is based on a transduction
principle - conversion of energy from one form
to another

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 Human sensing and organs
• Vision: eyes (optics, light)
• Hearing: ears (acoustics, sound)
• Touch: skin (mechanics, heat)
• Odor: nose (vapor-phase chemistry)
• Taste: tongue (liquid-phase chemistry)
Counterpart?

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Extended ranges and modalities
• Vision outside the RGB spectrum
– Infrared Camera, see at night
• Active vision
– Radar and optical (laser) range measurement
• Hearing outside the 20 Hz – 20 kHz range
– Ultrasonic range measurement
• Chemical analysis beyond taste and smell
• Radiation: , , -rays, neutrons, etc

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 Transduction to electronics
• Thermistor: temperature-to-resistance
• Electrochemical: chemistry-to-voltage
• Photocurrent: light intensity-to-current
• Pyroelectric: thermal radiation-to-voltage
• Humidity: humidity-to-capacitance
• Length (LVDT: Linear variable differential
transformers) : position-to-inductance
• Microphone: sound pressure-to-<anything>

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Sensor Fusion and Integration
• Human: One organ one sense?
– Not necessarily
• Balance: ears
• Touch: tongue
• Temperature: skin

• Robot:
– Sensor fusion:
• Combine readings from several sensors into a (uniform)
data structure
– Sensor integration:
• Use information from several sensors to do something
useful

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 Sensor Fusion
• One sensor is (usually) not enough
– Real sensors are noisy
– Limited Accuracy
– Unreliable - Failure/redundancy
– Limited point of view of the environment
• Return an incomplete description of the
environment
– The sensor of choice may be expensive -
might be cheaper to combine two inexpensive
sensors

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 General Processing

Sensor Preprocessing

Sensor Preprocessing
Fusion Interpretation
Sensor Preprocessing

Sensor Preprocessing

Sensing Perception
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 Preprocessing
• Colloquially - ‘cleanup’ the sensor readings
before using them

• Noise reduction - filtering

• Re-calibration
• ‘Basic’ stuff - e.g. edge detection in vision
• Usually unique to each sensor
• Change (transform) data representation
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 Sensor/Data Fusion
• Combine data from different sources
– measurements from different sensors
– measurements from different positions
– measurements from different times

• Often a mathematical technique that takes into

account uncertainties in data sources
– Discrete Bayesian methods
– Neural networks
– Kalman filtering

• Produces a merged data set (as though there

was one ‘virtual sensor’)
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 Interpretation
• Task specific
• Often modeled as a best fit problem given
some a priori knowledge about the
environment
• Tricky

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 Classification of Sensors
• Internal state (proprioception) v.s. external state
(exteroceptive)
– feedback of robot internal parameters, e.g. battery
level, wheel position, joint angle, etc,
– observation of environments, objects
• Active v.s. non-active
– emitting energy into the environment, e.g., radar,
sonar
– passively receive energy to make observation, e.g.,
camera
• Contact v.s. non-contact
• Visual v.s. non-visual
– vision-based sensing, image processing, video
camera
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 Proprioceptive Sensors
• Encoders, Potentiometers
– measure angle of turn via change in
resistance or by counting optical pulses
• Gyroscopes
– measure rate of change of angles
– fiber-optic (newer, better), magnetic (older)
• Compass
– measure which way is north
• GPS: measure location relative to globe
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 Touch Sensors
• Whiskers, bumpers etc.
– mechanical contact leads to
• closing/opening of a switch
• change in resistance of some element
• change in capacitance of some element
• change in spring tension
• ...

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 Sensors Based on Sound
• SONAR: Sound Navigation and Ranging
– bounce sound off of objects
– measure time for reflection to be heard - gives
a range measurement
– measure change in frequency - gives the
relative speed of the object (Doppler effect)
– bats and dolphins use it with amazing results
– robots use it w/ less than amazing results

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 Electromagnetic Spectrum
Visible Spectrum

700 nm 400 nm

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 Sensors Based on EM Spectrum

• Radio and Microwave

– RADAR: Radio Detection and Ranging
– Microwave radar: insensitive to clouds
• Coherent light
– all photons have same phase and wavelength
– LASER: Light Amplification by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation
– LASER RADAR: LADAR - accurate ranging

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Sensors Based on EM Spectrum
• Light sensitive
– eyes, cameras, photocells etc.
– Operating principle
• CCD - charge coupled devices
• photoelectric effect
• IR sensitive
– Local Proximity Sensing
• Infrared LEDs (cheap, active sensing)
• usually low resolution - normally used for presence/absence
of obstacles rather than ranging, operate over small range
– Sense heat differences and construct images
• Human detection sensors
• night vision application
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Sensors Used in Robotics

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 Gas Sensor
Accelerometer Gyro

Metal Detector
Pendulum Resistive
Tilt Sensors Piezo Bend Sensor
Gieger-Muller
Radiation Sensor

Pyroelectric Detector

UV Detector
Resistive Bend Sensors

CDS Cell
Resistive Light Sensor
Digital Infrared Ranging

Pressure Switch
Miniature Polaroid Sensor
Limit Switch Touch Switch
Mechanical Tilt Sensors

IR Pin IR Sensor w/lens

Diode
Thyristor
Magnetic Sensor

Polaroid Sensor Board

Hall Effect
Magnetic Reed Switch Magnetic Field
IR Reflection
IR Amplifier Sensor Sensors
Sensor
IRDA Transceiver

IR Modulator
Lite-On IR Radio Shack Solar Cell
Receiver
Remote Receiver Remote Receiver
Compass Compass
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Piezo Ultrasonic Transducers
 Sensors Used in Robotics
• Resistive sensors
– bend sensors, potentiometer, resistive photocells, ...
• Tactile sensors
– contact switch, bumpers…
• Infrared sensors
– Reflective, proximity, distance sensors…
• Ultrasonic Distance Sensor
• Inertial Sensors (measure the second derivatives of position)
– Accelerometer, Gyroscopes,
• Orientation Sensors
– Compass, Inclinometer
• Laser range sensors
• Vision, GPS, …
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Resistive Sensors

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 Resistive Sensors
Bend Sensors
• Resistance = 10k to 35k
• As the strip is bent, resistance increases Resistive Bend Sensor

Potentiometers
• Can be used as position sensors for sliding
mechanisms or rotating shafts
• Easy to find, easy to mount Potentiometer

Light Sensor (Photocell)

• Good for detecting direction/presence of
light
• Non-linear resistance Photocell
• Slow response to light changes R is small when brightly illuminated

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 Applications
Sensor

• Measure bend of a joint

Sensors
• Wall Following/Collision
Detection

Sensor

• Weight Sensor

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 Inputs for Resistive Sensors
V
Voltage divider:
R1

You have two resisters, one Vsense

is fixed and the other varies, R2
as well as a constant voltage
A/D converter
R2
Vsense  V micro
R1  R2
V

+ Binary Digital I/O

- Threshold

Comparator:
If voltage at + is greater than at -,
digital high out

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 Infrared Sensors
• Intensity based infrared
– Reflective sensors
– Easy to implement
– susceptible to ambient light

• Modulated Infrared
– Proximity sensors
– Requires modulated IR signal
– Insensitive to ambient light

• Infrared Ranging
– Distance sensors
– Short range distance measurement
– Impervious to ambient light, color and reflectivity of object

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 Intensity Based Infrared

Break-Beam sensor

Reflective Sensor
Increase in ambient light
raises DC bias

voltage
• Easy to implement (few components) time
• Works very well in controlled environments voltage

• Sensitive to ambient light

time

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 IR Reflective Sensors
• Reflective Sensor:
– Emitter IR LED + detector photodiode/phototransistor
– Phototransistor: the more light reaching the phototransistor, the
more current passes through it
– A beam of light is reflected off a surface and into a detector
– Light usually in infrared spectrum, IR light is invisible

• Applications:
– Object detection,
– Line following, Wall tracking
– Optical encoder (Break-Beam sensor)

• Drawbacks:
– Susceptible to ambient lighting
• Provide sheath to insulate the device from outside lighting
– Susceptible to reflectivity of objects
– Susceptible to the distance between sensor and the object
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 Modulated Infrared
• Modulation and Demodulation
– Flashing a light source at a particular frequency
– Demodulator is tuned to the specific frequency of light flashes.
(32kHz~45kHz)
– Flashes of light can be detected even if they are very week
– Less susceptible to ambient lighting and reflectivity of objects
– Used in most IR remote control units, proximity sensors

Negative true logic:

Detect = 0v
No detect = 5v
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 IR Proximity Sensors
amplifier bandpass filter integrator
limiter demodulator comparator

• Proximity Sensors:
– Requires a modulated IR LED, a detector module with built-in modulation
decoder
– Current through the IR LED should be limited: adding a series resistor in LED
driver circuit
– Detection range: varies with different objects (shiny white card vs. dull black
object)
– Insensitive to ambient light
• Applications:
– Rough distance measurement
– Obstacle avoidance
– Wall following, line following

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 IR Distance Sensors
• Basic principle of operation:
– IR emitter + focusing lens + position-sensitive detector

Modulated IR light

Location of the spot on the detector corresponds to

the distance to the target surface, Optics to covert
horizontal distance to vertical distance

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 IR Distance Sensors
• Sharp GP2D02 IR Ranger
– Distance range: 10cm (4") ~ 80cm (30"). 
– Moderately reliable for distance measurement
– Immune to ambient light
– Impervious to color and reflectivity of object
– Applications: distance measurement, wall following, …

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 Basic Navigation Techniques
• Relative Positioning (called Dead-reckoning)
– Information required: incremental (internal)
• Velocity
• heading
– With this technique the position can be updated with
respect to a starting point
– Problems: unbounded accumulation error
• Absolute Positioning
– Information Required: absolute (external)
– Absolute references (wall, corner, landmark)
– Methods
• Magnetic Compasses (absolute heading, earth’s magnetic field)
• Active Beacons
• Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
• Landmark Navigation (absolute references: wall, corner, artificial
landmark)
• Map-based positioning
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 Dead Reckoning
Cause of unbounded accumulation error:
Systematic Errors:
a) Unequal wheel diameters
b) Average of both wheel diameters
differs from nominal diameter
c) Misalignment of wheels
d) Limited encoder resolution,
sampling rate, …
Nonsystematic Errors:
a) Travel over uneven floors
b) Travel over unexpected objects on
the floor
c) Wheel-slippage due to : slippery
floors; over-acceleration, fast
turning (skidding), non-point wheel
contact with the floor
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 Sensors used in navigation
• Dead Reckoning • External Sensors
– Odometry (monitoring the – Compass
wheel revolution to compute the – Ultrasonic
offset from a known starting
position) – Laser range sensors
• Encoders, – Radar
• Potentiometer,
– Vision
• Tachometer, …
– Global Positioning
– Inertial Sensors (measure System (GPS)
the second derivative of position)
• Gyroscopes,
• Accelerometer, …

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Motor Encoder

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 Incremental Optical Encoders
• Incremental Encoder:
light sensor
- direction

decode - resolution

light emitter circuitry

grating

• It generates pulses proportional to the rotation speed of the

shaft.
• Direction can also be indicated with a two phase encoder:
A

B A leads B

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 Absolute Optical Encoders
• Used when loss of reference is not possible.
• Gray codes: only one bit changes at a time ( less uncertainty).
• The information is transferred in parallel form (many wires are necessary).

Binary Gray Code

000 000

001 001

010 011

011 010

100 110

101 111

110 101

111 100

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 Other Odometry Sensors
• Resolver
It has two stator windings positioned
at 90 degrees. The output voltage is
proportional to the sine or cosine
function of the rotor's angle. The
rotor is made up of a third winding,
winding C

• Potentiometer
= varying
resistance
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Range Finder
(Ultrasonic, Laser)

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 Range Finder
• Time of Flight
• The measured pulses typically come form
ultrasonic, RF and optical energy sources.
–D=v*t
– D = round-trip distance
– v = speed of wave propagation
– t = elapsed time
• Sound = 0.3 meters/msec
• RF/light = 0.3 meters / ns (Very difficult to measure
short distances 1-100 meters)

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 Ultrasonic Sensors
• Basic principle of operation:
– Emit a quick burst of ultrasound (50kHz), (human hearing: 20Hz to
20kHz)
– Measure the elapsed time until the receiver indicates that an echo is
detected.
– Determine how far away the nearest object is from the sensor

D=v*t
D = round-trip distance
v = speed of propagation(340 m/s)
t = elapsed time

Bat, dolphin, …

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 Ultrasonic Sensors

• Ranging is accurate but bearing has a 30 degree

uncertainty. The object can be located anywhere in the arc.
• Typical ranges are of the order of several centimeters to 30
meters.
• Another problem is the propagation time. The ultrasonic
signal will take 200 msec to travel 60 meters. ( 30 meters
roundtrip @ 340 m/s )
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 Polaroid Ultrasonic Sensors
–It was developed for an automatic
camera focusing system
–Range: 6 inches to 35 feet

Transducer Ringing: Electronic board Ultrasonic

– transmitter + receiver @ 50 KHz transducer
– Residual vibrations or ringing may
be interpreted as the echo signal
– Blanking signal to block any return
signals for the first 2.38ms after
transmission

http://www.acroname.com/robotics/info/articles/sonar/sonar.html
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Operation with Polaroid Ultrasonic
• The Electronic board supplied has the following I/0
– INIT : trigger the sensor, ( 16 pulses are transmitted )
– BLANKING : goes high to avoid detection of own signal
– ECHO : echo was detected.
– BINH : goes high to end the blanking (reduce blanking time < 2.38
ms)
– BLNK : to be generated if multiple echo is required

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 Ultrasonic Sensors
• Applications:
– Distance Measurement
– Mapping: Rotating proximity scans (maps the
proximity of objects surrounding the robot)

Doorway

Robot
Length of Echo
chair chair

Scan moving from left to right

Scanning at an angle of 15º apart can achieve best results

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Noise Issues

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 Laser Ranger Finder
• Range 2-500 meters
• Resolution : 10 mm
• Field of view : 100 - 180 degrees
• Angular resolution : 0.25 degrees
• Scan time : 13 - 40 msec.
• These lasers are more immune to Dust and Fog

http://www.sick.de/de/products/categories/safety/

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 Inertial Sensors
• Gyroscopes
– Measure the rate of rotation independent of the
coordinate frame
– Common applications:
• Heading sensors, Full Inertial Navigation systems (INS)
• Accelerometers
– Measure accelerations with respect to an inertial frame
– Common applications:
• Tilt sensor in static applications, Vibration Analysis, Full INS
Systems

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 Accelerometers
• They measure the inertia force generated
when a mass is affected by a change in
velocity.
• This force may change
– The tension of a string
– The deflection of a beam
– The vibrating frequency of a mass

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 Accelerometer
• Main elements of an accelerometer:
1. Mass 2. Suspension mechanism 3. Sensing element

2
d x dx
F  m 2  c  kx
d t dt

High quality accelerometers include a servo loop to improve the linearity of the
sensor.

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 Gyroscopes
• These devices return a signal proportional to the
rotational velocity.
• There is a large variety of gyroscopes that are
based on different principles

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Global Positioning System (GPS)
24 satellites (+several spares)

broadcast time, identity, orbital

parameters (latitude, longitude,
altitude)

Space Segment

http://www.cnde.iastate.edu/staff/swormley/gps/gps.html

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 Noise Issues
• Real sensors are noisy
• Origins: natural phenomena + less-than-
ideal engineering
• Consequences: limited accuracy and
precision of measurements
• Filtering:
– software: averaging, signal processing
algorithm
– hardware tricky: capacitor

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