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Archive-name: robotics-faq/part4
Last Modified: Mon Sep 16 01:00:38 EDT 1996 _________________________________________________________________ This FAQ was compiled and written by Kevin Dowling with numerous contributions by readers of comp.robotics. Acknowledgements are listed at the end of the FAQ. This post, as a collection of information, is Copyright 1995 Kevin Dowling. Distribution through any means other than regular Usenet channels must be by permission. The removal of this notice is forbidden. This FAQ may be posted to any USENET newsgroup, on-line service, or BBS as long as it or the section is posted in its entirety and includes this copyright statement. This FAQ may not be distributed for financial gain. This FAQ may not be included in commercial collections or compilations without express permission from the author. Please send changes, additions, suggestions and questions to: Kevin Dowling tel: 412.268.8830 Robotics Institute fax: 412.268.5895 Carnegie Mellon University net: [2]nivek@cmu.edu Pittsburgh, PA 15213 url: [3]http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/~nivek See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
This FAQ may be referenced as:
Dowling, Kevin (1995) "Robotics: comp.robotics Frequently Asked
Questions" Available as a hypertext document at
http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/robotics-faq. 90+ pages.
_________________________________________________________________
Last-Modified: Thu Dec 7 16:40:11 1995
[4]Kevin Dowling <nivek@cmu.edu>
References
_________________________________________________________________
[10] What Robotics related products are there?
[3][10.1] Sensors
[4][10.1.1] Cameras
[5][10.1.2] Inertial, Acceleration and Heading sensors
[6][10.1.3] Rangefinding devices
[7][10.1.4] Force/torque, accelerometers, tactile
[8][10.1.5] Sonar sensors
[9][10.1.6] Pan/tilt mechanisms
[10][10.1.7] Measuring 3 or 6DOF position
[11][10.1.8] Measuring linear motion
[12][10.1.9] Interfacing sensors
[13][10.2] Actuators
[14][10.2.1] RC-Servos
[15][10.2.2] Shape Memory Materials
[16][10.2.3] Other Actuators
[17][10.2.4] Stepper Motors
[18][10.2.5] Controllers
[19][10.3] Imaging for Robotics
[20][10.4] Wireless Communication
[21][10.4.1] RF Modems
[22][10.4.2] RF Video
[23][10.4.3] RF Ethernet
[24][10.5] Robot Parts: Suppliers and Sources
_________________________________________________________________
[10] What Robotics related products are there?
Robots are amazingly interdisciplinary; systems are comprised of
mechanics, electronics, hardware and software and issues germane to
all these catagories. As a result, the design and constructions of
such systems requires a corresponding variety of components and parts.
This section provides information about products available for some of
these areas.
_________________________________________________________________
[10.1] Sensors This list covers only the most frequently requested
types of robot sensors. These include point-range sensors, cameras,
and acoustic devices. See Sensors magazine directory for a large and
comprehensive list. This list covers the following:
[25][10.1.1] Cameras
[26][10.1.2] Inertial measurement devices and gyros
[27][10.1.3] Rangefinding devices
[28][10.1.4] Force/torque, accelerometers, tactile
[29][10.1.5] Sonar sensors
[30][10.1.6] Pan/tilt mechanisms
[31][10.1.7] Measuring 3 or 6DOF position
[32][10.1.8] Measuring linear motion
[33][10.1.9] Interfacing sensors
_________________________________________________________________
[10.1.1] Cameras
There are a large number of cameras on the market and even many
consumer products such as the smaller camcorders are inexpensive and
suitable for some imaging applications. I'll try to list some
different and unusual ones here. Note that although some of these
cameras are very small many of them are appended to a large box of
electronics via a cable that supplies power and transmits video. For
mobile applications DC power inputs may be an issue as well. I've also
included servo-lens products as well in this section.
_________________________________________________________________
_CCTV Corporation _
280 Huyler St. South Hackensack, NJ 07606 tel: 201.489.9595 tel:
800.221.2240 fax: 201.489.0111
CCTV makes a number of small CCD surveillance cameras. Some as small
as a pack of cigarettes that sell for less than $300. Small cameras --
'Pincam' 1.5"x1.5"x.75" pinhole camera for $200. MOD-250 and MOD-275
are all single PC board cameras with wide angle 3.6 mm lenses 514x491V
resolution, and composite outputs. Other cameras come in unique
enclosures for surveilance (e.g. cigarette packs, clocks, smoke
detectors).
_________________________________________________________________
_Cohu_
P.O. Box 85623
San Diego, CA 92186-5623
tel: 619.277.6700 X225
fax: 619.277.0221
Cohu makes a number of solid state cameras including board level and
remote head devices. The 1100 series is designed for OEM use. It
outputs standard RS-170 with 768x494 CCD resolution. 10cmx4.5cmx1.6cm
w/o lens. Other units include the 550 series Intensified Monochrome
CCD Camera for low-light applications. The 4110 has digital output
(eliminates pixel jitter), The 6X00 series are small monochrome remote
head cameras and the 8000 series cameras are color remote head
devices. A variety of ouputs are available includeing NTSC, RGB,
PAL/Y-C. A high resolution unit, the 8410 series, provides 1134x486
pixels (850 horz TV lines)
_________________________________________________________________
_DAK Industries_
8200 Remnet Ave
Canoga Park, CA 91304
tel: 800.325.0800 (ordering)
tel: 800.888.9818 (technical)
fax: 818.888.2837
DAK sells all kinds of gadgets for the home and business. One device
is a security camera that is smaller than a credit card (length and
width) and 38mm deep. B/W 251,904 pixels, 60 degree lens and built-in
microphone. Has built-in IR transmitters for seeing in total darkness.
$199 for camera, 20m cable, AC adapter and stands. Other packages
include monitors and two-camera switcher for $299 total. Extra cable
is $29.90
_________________________________________________________________
_Dalsa Inc_
605 McMurray Rd.
Waterloo, ON, Canada N2V 2E9
tel: 519.886.6000
Modular cameras -- you choose the entire configuration from the CCD
device to the video output format. Known for their large selection of
high speed, high sensitivity and high resolution CCD chips (up to 25
million pixels on a single chip CCD).
_________________________________________________________________
_Edmund Scientific _
101 E. Gloucester Pike
Barrington, NJ 08007-1380
tel: 609.573.6250 order
tel: 609.573.6260 customer service
Edmund Scientific Catalog has some very nice looking minature CCD
cameras. They have several models ranging from $230 to $495 list, b/w
and color with 1/2" or 1/3" CCD's. All are board level and require
external power supply.
_________________________________________________________________
_Electrim Corp. _
P.O. Box 2074
Princeton, NJ. 08543
tel: 609.683.5546
fax: 609.683.5882
Offers digitial cameras and acquisition cards in an integrated system
for use with PC's. The EDC-1000C is a complete image acquisition
system with a 751x488v resolution camera that supports 24 bit color
for $950 (including the PC interface card). The EDC-1000HR is the
monochrome version. A recently released system (11/94) offers a
ADSP2101 DSP on board the acquisition card.
_________________________________________________________________
_Elmo Mfg Corp _
70 New Hyde Park Rd.
New Hyde Park, NY 11040
tel: 516.775.3200
tel: 800.974.ELMO
fax: 516.775.3297
Micro-sized cameras including a 12mm color unit, the UN411E. The
ME441E is a remote head B&W ccd camera for machine vision
applications. 17mm, 14g. Wide variety of features including
electronics shuttering, field/frame modes, interlace and non-interlace
etc.
_________________________________________________________________
_Gateway Electronics, Inc._
8123 Page Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63130
tel: 314.427.6116
Ultra Minature Camera $149.50. 1.6" X 1.8" X 1" with a 3.6 mm wide
angle lens a 1/3 CCD sensor 380 lines of resolution and electronic
sutter time of 1/60 - 1/50,000 sec. 12 VDC Video Camera and monitor
combination 9" solid state monitor. This is a closed circuit camera
monitor system that runs on 115 VAC. There is also a microphone in the
Camera. $125.00
_________________________________________________________________
_Hamamatsu Corp. _
360 Foothill Road
Bridewater, NJ 08807-0910
tel: 908.231.1116
fax: 908.231.0852
Offers a linup of general purpose single CCD cameras. The C4200 is a
768x493V single CCD color camera. The C3967 is a 3 CCD remote head
color camera with 786x493V resolution. They also offer off-the-shelf
image improvement/enhancing hardware and CCD chips (1024x1024V)
_________________________________________________________________
_Images Company _
P.O. Box 140742
Staten Island, NY 10314
tel: 718.698.8305
Microminature B/W video camera $200.00. TV Transmitter (KIT) $45.00
_________________________________________________________________
_Marshall Electronics _
Culver City, CA
Contact: Steve Kraig
tel: 310.390.6608
World's smallest low-cost digital camera on a single chip; under $10
for volume users. It is the first commercially available image sensor
to have a built-in A/D converter. The Digital Video Camera Chip,
VVL1070 delivers a digitized B&W image through processor-compatible
serial and parallel ports. The IC uses a proprietary CMOS sensor
technology developed by VLSI Vision Ltd., which also is developing a
whole series of single-chip EIA cameras that will be shortly
introduced to the American market.
The chip features a 160 x 160 pixel array. Pixel size is 10.5 x 10.5
microns. All circuitry to drive and sense the array is packaged in a
single Optical Quad Flatpak. The digital converter provides an 8-bit
digital output for serial or parallel interface. Other features
include an analog output with sync pulses, wide-range electronic
exposure control for use with a variety of low-cost fixed-aperture
lenses and automatic black level circuitry. Power consumption is less
than 100mw.
An Engineering Level Evaluation Kit is available to reduce development
costs and allow designers to rapidly develop a prototype using their
own defined interface circuitry. The kit includes a fully operational
PCB using an LCC with glass lid mounted in an anodized aluminum
enclosure with both a "C" mount 12mm lens and a wide-angle 4.3mm
fixed-focus lens.
Also offers both a 330 line and 510x492v resolution miniature color
cameras.
_________________________________________________________________
_Micro Video Products _
16201 Osborne
St. Westminster, CA 92683
tel: 714.842.4648
tel: 800.473.0538
Mini B/W camera $179.00 2.5x2.5x5cm and 70g. 7-14 VCD and 80 milliamps
Also carry underwater cameras, and transmitter/recievers for video.
_________________________________________________________________
_NEC America _
1555 Walnut Hill Lane
Irving, TX 75038
tel: 214.751.7000
tel: 800.323.6656
Offers many types of general purpose monochrome cameras as well as a
811x508V resolution color camera with a variety of output formats
(RGB, NTSC, Y/C). The TI-324A is a small high-res B/W CCD camera
designed for machine vision and robotics applications. A variety of
other B/W and Color CCD cameras are also made.
_________________________________________________________________
_Panasonic _
tel: 201.392.4576
John Gregler - sales rep
Sells a complete line of monochrome cameras and a high performance
broadcast quality 3 CCD RGB color camera.
_________________________________________________________________
_Patrick McGuire_
tel: 800-335-9777
A small company (4) making cameras, wireless video transmitters.
_________________________________________________________________
_Pulnix America Inc. _
1330 Orleans Dr.
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
tel: 408.747.0300
tel: 800.445.5444 x127 Katie McVeigh - sales rep
Offers gereral purpose, reasonably priced CCD cameras. The TMC-7RGB is
a 768x494V resolution color camera with electronic shutter for $1100.
Many monochrome cameras are available including a high resolution
1024x1024V. The 'Card-Cam' line of cameras are small PC board cameras
with simple C-mount remote heads.
_________________________________________________________________
_Resources UN-LTD. _
8030 South Willow Street, Bldg 2
Manchester, NH 03109
tel: 603.668.2499
CCD Micro Camera From Chinon. $159.00 B/W 1/3" CCD with a full
250,000+ pixels. 350 lines of resolution. Auto gain control and
electronic shutter. 9 VDC at 80 milliamps. Adjustable focus 4mm, f 1.8
lens (provides 78 degree FOV, 10mm to infinity). Standard Composite
video out. Weighs 14g, IR Sensitive. Also reportedly sold by by
Creative Micro Electronics in Colorado. tel: 303.770.8928, fax:
303.796.0979
_________________________________________________________________
_Sony Electronics Inc. _
1200 N. Arlington Heights Road
Itasca, IL 60143
tel: 708.773.7604
Sony XC/999/999P is a nice small color CCD camera the size of a
microphone. CCD resolution is 768Hx493V. The 999 is NTSC and the 999P
is the PAL format. XC-75 has small camera head and separate
electronics. The XC711 is a nice general purpose single CCD color
camera with 768x493V resolution, but not as expensive as to XC999. The
XC-711 RR is the remote head version. An appreciable lineup of
monochrome cameras are offered as well.
_________________________________________________________________
_Supercircuits _
13552 Research Blvd #B
Austin, TX 78750
tel: 512.335.9777
fax: 512.335.1925
net: info@ccd.scx.com
Electronic timers and beepers, miniature cameras and transmitters.
Super Circuits specializes in affordable microvideo products. One of
the tiny cameras, the PC-9XS is about the size of a silver dollar, has
380 lines resolution, 1 lux rating at a price of only $149. Some of
the cameras go down to .2 lux. Other products include small color
cameras, ATV UHF transmitter kits, Short range transmitter sets, and
other specialty video products.
_________________________________________________________________
_Texas Instruments _
TI makes a full line of cameras and CCD chips includeing linear and 2D
arrays. TI makes a $35 CCD Imager, the TC-211, with 192x165
resolution. Newark Electronics sells the TC211-M for around US$50.00
See TI's Array Image Sensor Products data manual for more details.
Update: Unfortunately, Telescope Making Magazine went out of business
with the issue mentioned above and may be hard to find. Hope to find
copy and contact author wrt to posting it.
_________________________________________________________________
_Toshiba America _
Information and Imaging Technologies Group
1010 Johnson Drive
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089-6900
tel: 800.253.5429
fax: 708.541.1927
Toshiba IK-M40A high resolution microminiature color camera. Camera
head is 39mm long, 17mm diameter and weighs 16g. 1/2" CCD w/ 410,000
pixels, high sensitivity (5 lux at F1.6) and electronic shutter. RGB
output standard. uses cables up to 30m. Several lenses available.
About $2K.
Toshiba also makes a very small C-mount Lens color CCD camera, the
IK-C40A. It is only slight larger than a 30mm cube.
_________________________________________________________________
_Wintriss Engineering Corp _
6342 Ferris Square
San Diego, CA 92121
tel: 619.550.7300
tel: 800.733.8089
Wintriss makes a 2048 pixel line scan camera that can be used for
object imaging, velocity measurement and positioning with multiple
cameras. Can be used to determine spped and trajectory of objects in
flight. This has been used in archery applications. RS485 interface
with 8Mb/sec serial data rate. Can be linked directly with Wintriss
DSP boards for post-processing and communications. Price $1250.
_________________________________________________________________
_Xillix Technologies Corporation _
Suite 200
2339 Colombia Street
Vancouver B.C. V5Y 3Y3
tel: 604.875.6161
fax: 604.872.3356
Specializing in High-res CCD cameras. Product line includes a 12-bit
1317x1035 pixel resolution. Target market has been medical imaging.
Full computer control and compatible with a number of image capture
and display boards.
_________________________________________________________________
[10.1.2] Inertial, Acceleration and Heading sensors
An excellent summary technical report on this area can be found at:
[34]CMU-RI-TR-94-15 (compressed)
_Modern Inertial and Satellite Navigation_ by Alonzo Kelly, May 1994.
Inertial measurement includes such devices as accelerometers, gyros,
and devices for measuring orientation or acceleration of moving
vehicles. Accelerometers are devices for measuring the rate of change
in velocity and can provide estimations of distance or be used to
detect high forces.
Much of the initial research, development and marketing in this area
were for military applications. However, markets and commercial units
are now found in mass market and even consumer applications these
days. This has brought the price of systems down significantly. There
are several inexpensive gyros used in radio controlled helicopters.
These are rate gyros, used to sense the rate of turn about a
particular axis (usually vertical, for tail rotor control), and are
designed to connect between an R/C receiver and a servo.
These gyros work by modifying the PWM signal that the rx produces,
before it gets to the servo. The sensing is usually done by a linear
hall effect device, which senses the position of a magnet on the
bottom of the flywheel assembly. The gyros have both sensitivity and
gain controls, and some can be switched on and off remotely. They have
been used for sensing rotation about an axis for a VR headset, with
some success. The big advantage is they are relatively cheap, the big
disadvantage is high drift rate.
_________________________________________________________________
_Analog Devices_
One Technology Way
P.O. Box 9106,
Norwood, MA 02062-9106
tel: 617.329.4700
fax: 617.326.8703
Analog Devices ADXL50 accelerometer.
Power Supply........................... +5V (+/- 5%)
Measurement Range...................... +/- 50g
Pre-Amp Zero-g output level............ +1.8V
Pre-Amp output span.................... +1.8V (+/-1.2V) at +/-50g
Uncommitted amp output range........... +0.25V to +4.75V
Overall Accuracy....................... 5% of Full Scale
Linearity.............................. 0.5% of Full Scale
Bandwidth.............................. DC to 1kHz
Voltage Noise (p-p)
at BW = 0.3kHz..................... +/-0.24% of Full Scale
at BW = 1.0kHz..................... +/-0.48% of Full Scale
Transverse Sensitivity................. 2%
Unpowered Shock Survival............... 2000g
Distributed by Newark, Hamilton-Hallmark and Active.
_________________________________________________________________
_Andrew Corporation_
10500 W. 153rd Street
Orland Park, IL 60462
tel: 708.349.5957
fax: 708.349.5294
fax: 800.349.5444
Fiber-optic gyro. 77mm diameter by 88mm high. Analog out porportional
to rotation rate. Also digital version available. Rate +/- 100
degrees/sec. Stable over -40C to +85C. Power 8-13.5VDC at 250mA. Bias
drift 0.005 deg/sec (18 deg/hr). 0.63kg $1100.00 for digital version,
$950 for analog.
_________________________________________________________________
_AMP_
P.O. Box 799
Valley Forge, PA 19482
tel: 610.666.3500
fax: 610.666.3509
Piezo Film Accelerometer Sensors
AHC-04-08 accelerometer/shock sensor contains three sensing elements
oriented to measure acceleration in two linear axes and one angular
axis. Each sensor has a dedicated channel with adjustable gain, an
adjustable comparator, and selectable output control to provide either
a digital or analog signal. It is a low profile surface mount chip
with 14 pins. It has internal eeprom for programming the adjustable
gains, and output modes.
Lower limit on the frequency response is typically about 7-13 Hz. This
means if it were subjected to a steady 10 G acceleration for example,
the output would rise to 10 G's then decay down to zero even though it
were still at 10 G's. This is good for measuring shocks but not steady
accelerations. About $30 for a single unit.
_________________________________________________________________
_BEI - Systron Donner_
2700 Systron Drive,
Concord, CA 94518-1399
tel: 510.682.6161
fax: 510.671.6590
GyroChip - a very small solid state angular rate sensor. Based a
quartz tuning fork device - all support electronics are included. Max
range available: +/-10 deg/sec to +/-1000 deg/sec. Input +/- 5VDC
Output scale +/- 2.5VDC. Systron Donner also makes a variety of linear
accelerometers and inertial measurement products. Solid state six axis
inertial sensor. It provides analog signals for 3 axis acceleration
and 3 axis rate. The package is 7.5cmx7.5cmx8cm, weighs ~600grams and
takes +-15V unreg in (7W). Bias drift is on the order of 0.005 deg/sec
short term (0.1deg/sec long term). Cost is $12,000 for one or $10,000
for 2-9 (a good single axis rate gyro usually costs $6K+). Various
acceleration and rate range combinations are available (up to +- 20g).
Delivery is about 6wks. A new Gyrochip two is available as well. Specs
aren't quite as good but it is cheaper.
_________________________________________________________________
_Endevco Corporation_
30700 Rancho Viejo Road
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675
tel: 714.493.8181
fax: 714.661.7231
Variable Capacitance and Piezoresistive Accelerometers. Many models,
contact Endevco for literature.
_________________________________________________________________
_Gyration Inc._
Saratoga CA
tel: 408.255.3016
fax: 408.255.9075
Sells small vertical and directional gyros for ~$500. These are
standard gimballed gyros, but the drift specs probaly aren't as good
as aircraft-quality gyros. Now also sell innovative computer pointers
and devices termed 'Gyroengines' that provide quadrature outputs from
heading devices. Gyroengines are $3.5K
_________________________________________________________________
_Honeywell_
11601 Roosevelt Blvd
St. Petersburg, FL 33716
tel: 813.579.6604
fax: 813.579.6696
Honeywll manufactures the modular azimuth and postioning system (MAPS)
and utilizes ring-laser gyros. (RLG). The RLG uses two beams of laser
light rotating in opposite directions along a path within a sealed and
enclosed cavity. As the unit changes heading, the distances the beams
travel differ. This difference is can be measured and is directly
related to heading. When combined with linear accelerometers the unit
provides position and orientation. MAPS has an RS-422 interface, is
approx 22x27x38cm and is 20kg. 100W power draw. [Rad hard and rated
for howitzer gunfire!]
_________________________________________________________________
_Humphrey_
9212 Balboa Avenue
San Diego, CA 92123
tel: 619.565.6631
fax: 619.565.6873
Wide variety of gyros, north seekers, vertical indicators, position
transducers, pendulums, magnetometers, dynamic stabilization systems,
and accelerometer devices.
_________________________________________________________________
_ICSensors_
1701 McCarthy Blvd.
Milpitas, CA 95035-7416
tel: 800.767.1888
tel: 408.432.1800
fax: 408.434.6687
Model 3145. Signal Conditioned Temperature Compensated 0.5 to 4.5 Vdc
Output. 2g, 5g, 10g, 20g, 50g, 100g, 200g ranges. $230 for 1.
Model 3140: Instrumentation grade Signal Conditioned Temperature
Compensated 0.5 to 4.5 Vdc Output. 2g, 5g, 10g, 20g, 50g, 100g, 200g
ranges. $295 for 1.
Model 3031: OEM Accelerometer Piezoresistive low cost Surface mount
package. 2g, 5g, 10g, 20g, 50g, 100g, 200g, 500g ranges. $74 for 1.
Model 3021 and 3026: OEM Accelerometer Piezoresistive low cost. 2g,
5g, 10g, 20g, 50g, 100g, 200g, 500g ranges. Price ranges from $98-141
for 1, depending on g range.
_________________________________________________________________
_KVH Industries _
110 Enterprise Center
Middletown, RI 02840
tel: 401.847.3327
fax: 401.849.0045
also in Europe:
KVH Europe A/S
Ved Klaedebo 12
2970 Hoersholm
DENMARK
tel: +45(42)86 82 89
fax: +45(42)86 70 77
Nice small well-designed units that provide heading data. About $1K w/
RS232 adapter.
_________________________________________________________________
_Lucas Control Systems Products_
1000 Lucas Way
Hampton, VA 23666
tel: 800.745.8008
fax: 800.745.8004
Schaevitz Sensors, a division of Lucas, makes a variety of
inclinometers and accelerometers. the S05E is a compact, lightweight,
solid state accelerometer. NEMA 4 housing. DC -1KHz freq response,
+/-5vdc output, vibration to 20grms, less than 500mW power.
Other linear servo inclinometers and accelerometers: acceleration
ranges: +/-0.5g to +/-20g, inclinometer ranges +/-1 deg to +/- 90 deg.
Operating temperatures -55C to 95C.
_________________________________________________________________
_Lucas NovaSensor_
1055 Mission Court
Fremont, CA 94539
tel: 510.490.9100
Lucas makes a 1"x1"x0.5" accelerometer for about $200. Good noise
immunity but fragile.
_________________________________________________________________
_Murata Erie North America_
2200 Lake Park Drive
Smyrna, GA 30080
tel: 800.831.9172
fax: 404.436.3030
Gyrostar piezoelectric vibrating gyroscope. Uses equilateral
triangular prism with PE elements attached to faces of prism. High
precision compared to other vibration gyroscopes. Measures augular
velocity with good linearity. Max augular vel +/- 90 deg/sec, No
hysteresis, 58x25x25mm, 45g, output is DC voltage porportional to
angular rate. 22.2mV/deg/sec scale factor.
Gerhard Weiss has provided some results of experiments with the unit
at [131.246.192.2]: [35]Gyrostar.ps.Z
_________________________________________________________________
_Pewatron AG_
Hertistr. 27
CH-8304 Wallisellen, Switzerland
Tel: +41 1 830 29 44
Fax: +41 1 830 51 57
Two-axis Inclinometer. Weight: 2.3gr, voltage: 5V, current: 20mA,
dimension: 12 x 12 x 7 mm, Output: 2 analog output. Sine and cosine
for 360 degree, voltage swing: +/- 0.4V, Price: about $100. Rumored to
have a US distributor: Dinsmore. _Dinsmore Instrument Company_
1814 Remell Street
Flint MI 45806
tel: 810.744.1330
fax: 810.744.1790
net: qwae32d@prodigy.com
_________________________________________________________________
_Precision Navigation_
1235 Pear Avenue
Suite 111
Mountain View, CA 94043
tel: 415.962.8777
fax: 415.962.8776
TCM2 Electronic Compass Sensor Module. Digital compass - incorporates
2-axis tilt sensor. NOT A FLUXGATE COMPASS - Magneto-inductive
magnetometer technology. Electronic gimbaling, full 3-axis
information, low power consumption 5vdc @ 6-12mA. Accuracy +/- 1
degree up to 20 degrees tilt. Approx. 6x5x3 cm. -20to70C operating
temperature. RS232 interface or analog. 0-2.5V linear. 16Hz output
rate. $700.
Precision's Vector-2X electronic compass module is about $50 and
provides 2 deg accuracy, 1 deg resolution, 10Hz smapling, serial
ouput. Another product the Wayfinder is targeted for VR tracking
applications.
_________________________________________________________________
_Silicon Designs, Inc._
1445-NW Mall Street
Issaquah, WA. 98027-5344
tel: 206.391.8329
fax: 206.391.0446
Capacitive Accelerometers
Model 1010, Digital output:
Produces Digital pulse train in which the density of pulses (number of
pulses a second) is proprtional to applied acceleration. It operates
with a single +5 volt power supply and requires a clock of 100kHz -
1MHz. The output is ratiometric to the clock frequency and independent
of the power supply voltage. Two forms of digital signals are provided
for direct interfacing to a microprocessor or counter. This devices
comes in a PLCC package that is smaller than a penny.
Model 1210, Analog output:
Provides two analog outputs, 1-4 volts, or 4-1 volt, with O g's at 2.5
volts. The outputs can be used either differentially or single ended
referenced to 2.5 volts. Two reference voltages, +5.0 and +2.5 volts
(nominal), are required; the output scale factor is ratiometric to the
+5 volt reference voltage.
_________________________________________________________________
_Silicon Microstructures_
46725 Fremont Boulevard
Fremont CA. 94538
tel: 510.490.5010
fax: 510.490.1119
Model 7170 series and 7130 series capacitive accelerometers. These are
relatively large devices with built in ASIC signal processing.They
have very good accuracy specs and are pre-calibrated. They also make
pressure sensors.
_________________________________________________________________
_Summitt Instruments _
Ohio
tel: 216.659.3312
Three-axis accelerometer. A tiny cube just under 2.5cm on a side.
Approx $1K
_________________________________________________________________
_Sundance Model Products _
2427 W. Adrian St.
Newbury Park, CA 91320
tel: 805.498.8857
Lists a solid state gyro for model helicopters. The SSG/1 is 38mm x
38mm x 13mm and weighs 43g. Completely solid state with no motor or
moving parts. Claims to draw 10% of the power of a gyro with moving
parts. No drift specs.
_________________________________________________________________
_Inclination and Tilt Sensing_ There are Electrolytic tilt sensors or
clinometers that use a a conductive fluid, not mercury, whose
resistance across various electrodes provides an analog signal
proportional to tilt angle. They're not too expensive, although they
do tend to have long settling times (up to a few seconds). A couple of
US sources:
_________________________________________________________________
_The Fredericks Company _
tel: 215.947.2500
fax: 215.947.7464
_________________________________________________________________
_Applied Geomechanics _
tel: 408.462.2801
fax: 408.462.4418
The smallest, cheapest model is 5x5x2 cm and about $250. It has a
5-terminal electrolytic cell that can measure tilt in two axes to +-20
degrees (optional +-45 degrees). The characteristic "slosh" frequency
is about 10 Hz, and it exhibits sub-second settling times and a
resolution of 0.01 degrees. The output is two analog signals (X and Y,
or Roll and Pitch, if you prefer). It runs off of a 9-volt battery.
_________________________________________________________________
[10.1.3] Rangefinding devices
_Principles_ There are four basic techniques for distance measurement
using electro magnetic radiation. These are:
1. Pulse Timing
2. Phase Comparison
3. Doppler Methods
4. Interferometry
All are used in practice for distance measurement depending on the
particular application.
Pulse timing, as the name suggests, involves measuring the round time
for a signal to be transmitted to a reflective surface and return.
This is the principle used in Radar, DME for aircraft, LORAN,
Satellite Altimetry, Airborne RADAR Altimetry, Lunar Laser Ranging
etc. Some of the newer EDM instruments used by surveyor are also using
pulse timing and accuracies of +/- 5mm are possible. Most of the
military range finders also use pulse timing. The GPS system uses
pulse timing for coarse distance measurement. Very Long Base
Interferometry (VLBI) is also a pulse timing technique where signals
>from pulsars are timed from two or more radio telescopes and the
difference in times of arrival are converted to intercontinental
distances with a precision of a few centimetres.
Phase difference involves the use of a carrier wave which may be
modulated at different wavelengths. By measuring the difference in
phase between the transmitted signal and the received signal after it
has been reflected from the other end of the target, the distance can
be determined as an integer number (unknown) of wavelengths plus a
fraction of a wavelength which is known from the phase comparison. By
using a range of modulation frequencies the ambiguity can be resolved.
There are many applications of this technique. A wide range of carrier
frequencies are used ranging from visible through infra red to
microwave and right down to VLF. Typical instruments used by surveyors
have accuracies of +/-(1to2 mm +1to3 parts per million) and use infra
red as the carrier. Precise positioning using GPS can be achieved by
phase comparison of the carrier wave signals of the various
satellites. Accuracies in position of better than 1 part per million
can be achieved.
Doppler techniques were used in the earlier satellite positioning
systems. The received frequency of a low orbit satellite is compared
with the actual transmitted signal as a function of time. The rate of
change of frequency gives the slant range between the satellite and
the observer while the instant when the two freqencies are the same
gives the point of closest approach. By knowing the orbital parameters
of the satellite which are transmitted, the observers position can be
determined.
Interferometric methods are the same as those used in the original
Michelson Interferometer. It is used for metrology, high precision
distance measurement over short distances (up to 60 metres) and in the
definition of the metre.
There are a variety of laser rangefinding devices that have been built
and used over the past decade for robotics use. The 3D devices are
still large, power hungry and heavy but give very nice images suitable
for fast map building and navigation work. Expect to pay over $50K for
these time-of-flight devices. Most AM Lidars measure phase shift
between outgoing and reflected beams. A mirror system rasters the beam
forming a video-camera-like image. Some devices supply the reflectance
image as well as range which is nice for corresponding the two.
Comprehensive references include:
* Electronic Distance Measurement by JM Rueger, Springer-Verlag
* P. Besl, ``Active, Optical Range Imaging Sensors'', Machine Vision
and Applications, v. 1, p. 127-152, 1988.
A longer version of Besl's paper appears in ``Advances in Machine
Vision: Architectures and Applications'', J. Sanz (ed.),
Springer-Verlag, 1988.
* Other good surveys are Ray Jarvis' article in IEEE TPAMI v5n2 and
Nitzan's article in IEEE PAMI v10n2.
A good report on the characterization of a particular scanner is:
* Experimental Characterization of the Perceptron Laser Rangefinder,
In So Kweon, Regis Hoffman, and Eric Krotkov. Carnegie Mellon
University Technical Report, CMU-RI-TR-91-1. 1991.
* M. Hebert and E. Krotkov. 3-D Measurements from Imaging Laser
Radars: How Good Are They? Int. Journal of Image and Vision
Computing, 10(3):170-178, April 1992
* International Journal of Robotics Research, Vol. 13, No. 4, Aug.
1994, pp 305-314. {get title}
A number of laboratory works have also demonstrated FM or chirp
systems which can be highly accurate (e.g. high resolution elevation
maps of coins) but these are very specialized and I don`t know of
commercial devices currently.
_________________________________________________________________
_Acuity Research_
20863 Stevens Creek Blvd. #200
Cupertino, Ca. 95014
tel: 408-252-9639
fax: 408-725-1580
net: contact@acuity.com or Bob Clark, rrc@acuity.com
The AccuRange 400 is an optical distance measurement sensor with a
range of 0 to 16m for most diffuse reflective surfaces. It operates by
emitting a collimated laser beam that is reflected from the target
surface and collected by the sensor. 0.5mm short-term repeatability,
RS-232 output and optional 4-20mA current loop. Also PW and analog
indication of range available. Visible or IR output available. (670nm
and 780nm respectively) Around $2500. 5VDC@300mA. 50KHz sampling rate.
_________________________________________________________________
_Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL)_
contact: Narinder Bains (nbains@bart.candu.aecl.ca)
net: 905.823.9040 x6120
Laser Eye ranging system. It consists of a robotic head with a
combined vision / range sensor. The sensor provides colour images and
distance to an object in the centre of the camera field of view. There
is of course software to process images from the camera and detect a
target, to control the head, communication, nice GUIs, etc. Is being
used for vehicle navigation.
From the head position you get the bearing to the target and the
rangefinder provides you with the distance. Angular resolution is
better than 0.05 degree, the distance can be measured up to 100m with
accuracy of ~5 cm. Note that the range measurement is 1D along the
camera axis.
The cost of the vision system and complexity of the software depends
on your specific application: how difficult is it to detect and track
your vehicle, how fast is it moving, is it possible to use special
markers, is illumination constant, etc.
_________________________________________________________________
_BCT GmbH _
Martin-Schmeisser-Weg 9
D-44227 Dortmund
BCT in Germany makes laser-3D-scanners with a CAD-interface
_________________________________________________________________
_ERIM (Environmental Research Institute of Michigan) _
ERIM has built a number of custom AM laser rangefinders including
those used in the ALV (Autonomous Land Vehicle) program. CMU and
Martin Marietta have both used this systems in extensive work. Basic
system was a 128x64 2fps 20m (ambiguity interval) system.
_________________________________________________________________
_Erwin Sick GmbH. _
UK:
Erwin Sick
Optic-Electronic Ltd.
Waldrich House
39 Hedley Road
St. Albans
Herfordshire AL1 5BN
tel: 0727/831121
fax: 0727/856767
in US:
Sick Optic-Electronic, Inc.
7694 Golden Triangle Drive
P.O.-Box 444-240
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
tel: 612.941.6780
fax: 612.941.9287
PLS-100: This device measures distance by TOF from 4 cm up to 80 m,
guaranteed range of 4 m (at a black lether target), is eye-safe (IEC
Class 1), takes a 180 degree scan in 20 ms, total 25 scans a second,
angle resolution 0.5 degree (361 scan points in a scan). This device
is build in a industrial IP65 case. And it is rather cheap (6.900,- DM
+ VAT, in Germany).
_________________________________________________________________
_ESP Technologies _
21 LeParc Drive
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
tel: 609.275.0356
fax: 609.275.0356
$15K LED based IR ranging system. 15cm diameter rotating scanning
device with collimated LED light beam that uses phase differences to
calculate distance. Range 0.6 to 6m. 2.5cm resolution, 15cm accuracy.
1Khz update rate
_________________________________________________________________
_Hammamatsu Corp. _
New Jersey
tel: 908.231.0960
fax: 908.231.1539
Hamamatsu S4282 Light Modulation Photo IC The size of a normal
transistor (approx 1/4" square). It has 4 leads, Vcc, Gnd, Vout, LED.
All you do is attach an IR LED to the LED lead to give you an instant
IR proximity detector (the photo diode detector is built into the
part). Two can be aimed at each other and they won't interfere since
they'll be out of phase. They have another model with a lens over the
photo diode that is claimed could be used up to 30 feet! Hammamatsu
also sells a number of photo sensors like color sensors, position
sensitive detectors, pyroelectric sensors.
* S4282-11 short range $7.75 single unit
* S4282-72 long range $19.00 single unit
_________________________________________________________________
_Hymarc_
5-38 Auriga Drive
Ottawa, ON, Canada K2E 8A5
tel: 613.727.1584
fax: 613.727.0441
net: [36]info@hymarc.com
Hyscan laser digitizing systems. High speed 3D surface mapping. Hyscan
probe retrofits to any CMM, CNC, or any other translation device.
10,000 points/sec.
Model 25 Model 50
Accuracy +/-0.025mm +/-0.050mm
Resolution (Z) 0.003mm 0.003mm
Depth of field 40mm 80mm
Scan width 70mm 80mm
Stand-off 100mm 100mm
Size 260x110x65mm
Weight 2.2kg
_________________________________________________________________
_IBEO Lasertechnik _
Ingenieurburo fur
Elektronik + Optik
Fahrenkron 125
D 2000 Hamburg 71
tel: 040 645 87 - 01
fax: 040 645 87 - 101
2D and 3D laser scanners. 8frame/sec, 220 degree view, 4600
points/sec. Accuracy +/- 20mm (1 sigma) from 0.5 - 500? 24W power.
System specs can be configured for variety of applications
_________________________________________________________________
_LaserMax _
Rochester, NY
tel: 716.272.5420
Manufactures semiconductor laser diode packages and cylindrical
lenses. Packages and small and rugged.
_________________________________________________________________
_Odetics _
1515 South Manchester Ave
Anaheim, CA 92802-2907
tel: 714.758.0300
Odetics has made a number of smaller laser scanners. That is, smaller
than their larger ERIM and Perceptron brethren. I have not heard any
independent reviews of the product however.
_________________________________________________________________
_Origin Instruments _
854 Greenview Drive
Grand Praire, TX 750750-2438
tel: 214.606.8740
fax: 214.606.8741
The Dynasight sensor is a 3-D optical radar that provides real-time
3-D measurements of passive targets with sub-millimeter resolution.
Automatic search and track is provided, eye-safe operation and no
adjustments or alignment required. Original application was head
tracking of computer users but end- effector tracking is also viable.
Operatin range depends on target size 0.1-1.5m for 7mm target, 0.3-4m
for 25mm target and 1 to 6m for 75mm targets. RS-232 interface.
Accuracies 1mm cross range and 4mm down range, resolutions 0.1mm cross
range and 0.4mm down range.
A number of labs have built light stripe devices using projected light
LCD shutters and laser line projectors determine distance through
geometry (as opposed to directly measuring distance through
time-of-flight means) One common need is that of generating the laser
line.
_________________________________________________________________
_Perceptron _
23855 Research Drive
Farmington Hills, MI 48335-2643
tel: 313.478.7710
tel: 800.333.7753
fax: 313.478.7059
A spin-off of ERIM, Perceptron has also built a number of AM laser
rangefinders. CMU and Caterpillar have used these for map building and
obstacle avoidance work in rough terrain navigation.
LASAR product - provides range and reflectance. Programmable field of
view (15 to 60 deg) Vertical viewing angle from 3 to 72 degrees. Depth
of field from 2 to 40 meters. Up to 1024 x 2048 pixels per image
(programmable) and 360,000 pixels/second data acquisition. VME and
PC-compatible interface cards available. Windows software provides
starting point for custom applications. Less than $50K with a variety
of performance and interface options.
_________________________________________________________________
_Riegl Laser Measurement Systems _
Riegl USA
8516 Old Winter Garden Road
Suite 101
Orlando, FL 32835
tel: 407.294.2799
fax: 407.294.3215
[company HQ is Dr. Johannes Riegl GmbH, 85 km, NW of Vienna, Austria]
Laser range finders, laser speed sensors, laser distance meters, motor
scanners, laser radar systems. Pulsed laser devices. One of the
neatest is the Laser Scout, which gives range, azimuth and inclination
to the target and can be used with GPS to give position coordinates of
the device you are pointing at. $10K. Accuracy up to +/- 10cm
(depending on model)
Laser Radar Scanner (LRS 90-3) is a 1D scanner with 36 deg field of
view and a +/- 3cm accuracy. 2-80m distance, $10K. There are several
other distance models as well.
_________________________________________________________________
_Schwarz Electro-Optics _
3404 N. Orange Blossom Trail
Orlando, FL 32804
tel: 407.298.1802
fax: 407.297.1794
Schwarz makes some very nice point range laser ranging devices. These
devices are slightly bigger than a soda can. About $6-12K. CMU
experience for use in simulated unmanned air vehicle platform worked
well. Their MARS (marine angle range system) is a rotating laser
device that reflects off targets in the environment. Max range up to
1000meters using corner prisms. Accuracy +/- 1m. Erebus (Dante)
Scanner used Schwarz device as base.
_________________________________________________________________
_Zoller+Frohlich Elecktrotechnik_
Postfach 1565
88231 Wangen im Allgau
Simoniusstrabe 22
88239 Wangen im Allgau
tel: (07522) 3064-67
fax: (07522) 200 36
Z+F are a spinoff from the Technical Univeristy of Munich and have
developed some nice 2 and 3D scanning devices but primarily devlop the
laser electronics. Initially for tunnelling inspection and
verification. Two-frequency phase shift device (10/80MHz) with 15m
depth of field. Resolution to .45mm, accuracy to 5mm, and 500KHz
smapling rate. scanner mechanism provides 360 degree profiles and 2500
pixels/profile and 200 profiles/second. 4.5mW laser (Class 1 >3m). 3D
camera provides 58 deg horz (321 pixels) and 52 deg vert (232 lines)
15-bit range value, 12bit gray level value from reflection signal.
12kg 3D unit.
_________________________________________________________________
[10.1.4] Force/torque, accelerometers, tactile
Force measurement provides indications of magnitude and direction of
forces for use in manipulation or locomotion. A variety of control
schemes have been implemented in force controlled systems to allow
smooth and accurate control in situations that would otherwise be
precluded without such devices. A number of load cells and
acceleration measuring devices are described here:
Rich Voyles embarked on a force/torque sensor comparison many months
ago and compiled some of the results in a paper that is available via
the web or anonymous ftp.
[37]http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/deadslug/ftp/home.h
tml [38]ftp://ftp.cs.cmu.edu/usr/anon/user/deadslug/ The
paper is woefully incomplete. The JR3 sensor we borrowed was broken so
we borrowed another and got limited data. The old Lord data collection
is incomplete and the Assurance Technologies data is not fully
included in the report. There is some data from California
Cybernetics. If there is sufficient interest, we can finish the
compilation. By the way, we only seek to provide the data we gathered
an make no claims as to its accuracy or completeness. Use at your own
risk. The opinions expressed do not represent those of Carnegie Mellon
University nor any of its sponsors. Send e-mail to robodude@cmu.edu
with the subject "More Force Data" if you read the report and would
like to see it expanded. Any other comments can be put in the body.
-Richard Voyles
_________________________________________________________________
_Analog Devices_
tel: 617.937.1426
Analog Devices have the ADXL50 accelerometer which comes in a 10-pin
TO-5 can. It is primarily used with air-bags and has a 1994 projected
price of $5 in quantities. In the Electronic Design August 8, 1991
issue it quoted the current price as $21.75 for 1000 off quantities.
Analog Devices ADXL50 accelerometer.
Power Supply........................... +5V (+/- 5%)
Measurement Range...................... +/- 50g
Pre-Amp Zero-g output level............ +1.8V
Pre-Amp output span.................... +1.8V (+/-1.2V) at +/-50g
Uncommitted amp output range........... +0.25V to +4.75V
Overall Accuracy....................... 5% of Full Scale
Linearity.............................. 0.5% of Full Scale
Bandwidth.............................. DC to 1kHz
Voltage Noise (p-p)
at BW = 0.3kHz..................... +/-0.24% of Full Scale
at BW = 1.0kHz..................... +/-0.48% of Full Scale
Transverse Sensitivity................. 2%
Unpowered Shock Survival............... 2000g
_________________________________________________________________
_ATI Industrial Automation_
(formerly Assurance Technologies)
(formerly Lord Industrial Automation)
Peachtree Center
503D Highway 70 East
Garner, North Carolina 27529
tel: 919.772.0115
fax: 919.772.8259
net: [39]info@ati-ia.com
Largest supplier of multi-axis force sensors. Use silicon rather than
foil strain gages for lower strain levels and increased life. F/T
sensor ratings from +/- 15lbs to +/- 150lbs (+/- 15 in-lbs to +/- 600
in-lbs) weights are 0.4 and 2.2 lbs for the 4 available sensors.
Serial or parallel digital interface or analog interface. ATI also
makes robotic tool-changers and an RCC device for assembly operations.
An ATI sensor is also incorporated in the Hughes SMARTee end-effector.
_________________________________________________________________
_Bonneville Scientific _
1849 W. No. Temple, Bldg E.
Salt Lake City, UT 84116
tel: 801.359.0402
fax: 801.359.0416
Array sensor system that uses PVDF ultrasonic emmitter/detector
attached to an elastomer material. Time-of-flight of the pulse as it
bounces off of other side of the material is porportional to distance
through the elastomer. The distance is porportional the pressure on
the pad. Bonneville claims it can be made thin enough for a skin and
they have pictures of it being used on a robot finger picking up a
washer which can be recognized on their output graphics. Example
product:
Model 300 - 16x16 tactile sensor system - $5K
TOF resolution - 12.5 ns
Sheet thickness resolution - 6 microns
Pressure resolution - 0.5 psi (3.4 kPa)
Force resolution - 1g
Rubber linearity - 5-15% deviation
Overload - > 1000PSI (7000kPa)
Spatial resolution - 1.8mm
Scan rate on 16x16 pad - 240 Hz
An evaluation kit is available SE-1 Evaluation Kit - $99.00 includes
SE-1 sensor and electronics. SE-1 Sensor is $42 in single quantity.
_________________________________________________________________
_California Cybernetics _
10322 Sherman Grove
Sunland, CA 91040
tel: 818.353.5991
fax: 818.951.3889
Six DOF F-T devices. Up to 1000Hz sampling rate, reportedly easy to
interface.
_________________________________________________________________
_Cybernet _
1919 Green Road
Suite B-101
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
tel: 313.668.2567
fax: 313.668.8780
net: heidi_jocobus@um.cc.umich.edu
PER-force - A 6dof compact force-reflecting controller. Can be used
for teleoperationor interactive graphics applications.
_________________________________________________________________
_Ercon _
Need addresses
Somewhere in MA
Conductive rubber and conductive inks. You build a semi-rigid circuit
board with inter-digitated fingers to apply to one side of the rubber.
The rubber has a rough surface that under increasing load allows more
rubber to contact. They can make rubber with all sorts of conductive
properties.
_________________________________________________________________
_Force Imaging _
3424 Touhy Avenue
Chicago, IL 60645-2717
tel: 708.674.7665
tel: 800.348.3240
fax: 708.674.6355
Uniforce Force Sensors. They function similiar to a variable resistor
in an electrical circuit. As a force is exerted on the sensor, the two
layers of pressure sensitive material compress together and cause a
change in resistance which corresponds to a change in pressure. As
force increases, resistance decreases. A Uniforce experimenters kit is
available for $550 and includes PC-AT card, cables, software, manual
and nine Uniforce sensors in three force ranges. They have ISA boards,
PCMCIA version and a PPIO version as well. Sensors available in ranges
from 0-500g to 0-400kg. Uniforce sensors can be provided in a wide
variety of shapes, sizes and force ranges. Software is also available
to display force values in real-time.
_________________________________________________________________
_Hughes STX _
4400 Forbes Blvd
Lanham, MD 20706
tel: 301.794.5016
fax: 301.306.0963
A 6-dof end-effector with automatic load sensing and compensation.
Control modes include position control (cartesian with user spec-ed
poses and frames), impedence and force control modes. Programmable
behaviors (sliding, hinge, move-to-touch, guarded move, follow etc),
open architecture (VxWorks, VME, user-linakable libraries) and a lot
more. Interfaces available included RS-232, ethernet, RS-422 and SCSI.
Pretty amazing end-effector!
_________________________________________________________________
_Interlink Electronics _
1110 Mark Ave.
Carpinteria, CA 93013
tel: 805.484.8855
805.484.1331 (product support)
fax: 805.484.8989
Force Sensing resistors made from polymer thick films. Very thin.
Response is approx. 1/R to force. Article in March 1993 issue of
Electronics Now/Radio Electronics.
_________________________________________________________________
_JR3 _
22 Harter Avenue
Woodland, CA 95695
tel: 916.661.3677
6-DOF force-torque sensors. Strain gage technology. Newer packages
have all electronics built into the sensor. Make some high-force
devices as well. CMU's Ambler used JR3's on all the feet with good
success. Complete force torque data at 8Khz, signal digitization
within sensor body, low noise susceptibility, synch serial at 2MHz,
inexpensive cabling.
_________________________________________________________________
_Merritt Systems, Inc._
P.O. Box 2103
Merritt Island, FL 32954-2103
Contact: Dr. Dan Wegerif
tel: 407.452.7828
fax: 407.452.3698
Sensor Skin for Robots. The Skin is designed to assist robots working
in constrained, hazardous, dynamic, or high cost environments. The
system uses a whole-arm proximity sensing systems for articulated
robots that provides complete voverage of the entire manipulator to
ensure that every obstacle in the robots path can be detected and
avoided. The proximity sensing technology is based on IR arrays which
they call "SensorCells". It allows the use of IR, acoustic and
capacitive (under-development) sensors in the same sensor skin. The
two main components of the Skin are smart sensor modules and the
flexible printed circuit board skin. Module sockets are placed at
regular intervals on the flexible skin and simply plugged in by the
user where required. Redundant cables carrying data and power are
connected to each panel. But a minimum of four cables can be used for
up to 1024 sensors.
_________________________________________________________________
_Silicon Designs, Inc. _
1445-NW Mall Street
Issaquah, WA. 98027-5344
tel: 206.391.8329
fax: 206.391.0446
Silicon Designs makes capacitive accelerometers.
Model 1010, Digital output:
Produces Digital pulse train in which the density of pulses
(number of pulses a second) is proprtional to applied
acceleration. It operates with a single +5 volt power supply
and requires a clock of 100kHz - 1MHz. The output is
ratiometric to the clock frequency and independent of the power
supply voltage. Two forms of digital signals are provided for
direct interfacing to a microprocessor or counter. This devices
comes in a PLCC package that is smaller than a penny.
Model 1210, Analog output:
Provides two analog outputs, 1-4 volts, or 4-1 volt, with O g's
at 2.5 volts. The outputs can be used either differentially or
single ended referenced to 2.5 volts. Two reference
voltages--+5.0 and +2.5 volts (nominal)-- are required; the
output scale factor is ratiometric to the +5 volt reference
voltage.
Prices start at about $100 and they offer a digital accelerometer
evaluation board for $200.
_________________________________________________________________
_Silicon Microstructures, Inc. _
46725 Fremont Boulevard
Fremont CA. 94538
tel: 510.490.5010
fax: 510.490.1119
Model 7170 series and 7130 series capacitive accelerometers. These are
relatively large devices with built in ASIC signal processing. They
have very good accuracy specs and are pre-calibrated. They also make
pressure sensors.
_________________________________________________________________
_Spectra Symbol_
3101 West 2100 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84119
Bend sensor for glove device. Their business is custom membrane
controls: switches, membrane potentiometers, and the bend sensors.
_________________________________________________________________
[10.1.5] Sonar sensors
The time it takes for an acoustic pulse to propagate through air or
water, reflect from the environment and return to a detector is
porportional to the distance.
Acoustic time-of-flight devices have been around for awhile now. The
ubiquitous Polaroid device is cheap and easily integrated and has has
found wide use in robotic devices. Other companies have developed nice
complete turnkey sonar devices though and Polaroid is no longer the
only choice.
_________________________________________________________________
_Polaroid Corporation _
119 Windsor St,
Cambridge, MA 02139
tel: 617.386.3961
fax: 617.386.3966
tel: 800.225.1000 ordering
tel: 800.225.1618 technical assistance
Polaroid Ultrasonic Components Group offers two ultrasonic ranging
kits:
Specs:
Distance range: 0.26 to 10.7 meters
Resolution: Nominal +- 3mm to 3m, +-1% over entire range
Sonar acceptance angle: approx. 20 degrees
Power Requirement: 6VDC, 2.5 Amps (1 ms pulse), 150mA quiescent
Weight: Transducer, 8.2gm, Ranging module, 18.4 gm
Designer's Kit:
1 transducer, 1 ranging module, electronics display accurate to
1/10th meter. Cost is $169
OEM kit:
2 transducers, 2 ranging modules. $99.
Piezotransducer kit
2.5cm-1500cm +/- 1%, RS-232 port and analog output, extra real
estate, $299
Polaroid has several new products as well: K-series piezo transducers
and 9000 Series Environmental Transducer.
Modifying the drive circuitry:
This section describes a simple addition to the drive circuitry, the
Polaroid ranging system can detect objects as close as 10cm.
The board has two extra signals: BLNK and BINH. Asserting BLNK
(driving it HIGH) resets the ECHO RS-latch, and asserting BINH
shortens the internal blanking interval (which is 2.38 ms by default).
Thus, the solution would seem to lie in asserting BINH after a
reasonable amount of time (less than 2.38 ms after asserting INIT) to
detect objects closer than 1.3 feet. This doesn't work very well
because BINH is very susceptable to noise, and attaching a driver to
it wreaks havoc possibly because of the anomalous current sink during
the transmit phase. This can be fixed by asserting BLNK during the
blanking period (ie the new blanking period) while negating BINH and
asserting BIHN after the blanking period while negating BLNK. This can
be done easily with a one-shot or some other timing device (eg
computer timer, etc).
A computer timer can be used. The timer goes HIGH tblank ms after INIT
is asserted, where tblank=0.15*dist and dist is the threshold distance
in inches). The timer output goes to BINH and the inverted timer
output goes to BLNK. The timer output should be inverted with an
LS/TTL inverter to delay the negation of BLNK, otherwise the RS latch
may do weird things. [From Richard LeGrand]
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_Siemans_
Nice complete sensor package, 5 degree cone angle
_________________________________________________________________
_Massa _
Components
_________________________________________________________________
_Texas Instruments _
At one point TI made a Type SN28827 Sonar Ranging Module. See TI
Applications Notes D2780. Under $50, needs only 5VDC Not sure if these
units are still manufactured but they are often in surplus catalogs.
However some other products include these: See data sheets at:
[40]http://www.ti.com/sc/docs/psheets/SPECIALF.HTM Data sheets
available in several formats. 1. TL851, SONAR RANGING CONTROL 2.
TL852, SONAR RANGING RECEIVER
_________________________________________________________________
[10.1.6] Pan/tilt mechanisms
A common robotic need. Most pan-tilts sold today by companies such as
Pelco and Vicon are for CCTV applications for continuous scanning or
remote operation. At most these will have potentiometers for feedback.
A number of undersea companies make pan-tilt devices as well that are
rugged and nicely packaged, but these tend to be heavier and more
expensive than their terrestrial counterparts.
_________________________________________________________________
_Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) _
contact: Narinder Bains (nbains@bart.candu.aecl.ca)
net: 905.823.9040 x6120
P02 pan/tilt head. High speed with digital servos (120 deg/sec),
encoders and continuous rotation. Controller as well.
_________________________________________________________________
_Brooks Support Systems _
Williamson, NY
tel: 800-836-0285 contact: Frank Dickey
BSS makes a small pan/tilt unit:
4.5" high by 3.5" wide x 3.5" long
40 oz.
12V dc
operating current 150 mA
pan 359 degrees
tilts 160 degrees
Price: $3100
_________________________________________________________________
_CameraMan _
CameraMan is a pan/tilt device built to support any camcorder and has
a wireless interface to an external remote control. 360 deg pan and 50
deg of tilt. The unit is made by ParkerVision and sold through
Columbia AudioVideo (and probably other suppliers)
_________________________________________________________________
_CCTV Corporation _
315 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10013
tel: 800.221.2240
fax: 212.463.9758
Standard CCTV pan-tilt devices like those from Vicon and others.
Inexpensive but no computer control. $557 - $1400
_________________________________________________________________
_Directed Perception _
1451 Capuchino Avenue,
Burlingame, CA 94010
tel: 415.342.9399
Small computer controlled pan-tilt unit Model PTU-46-17.5 Weighs 1kg
and can support ~1.5kg camera payload. Very nice specs: 330 deg/sec
slew, 3.06 arcmin accuracy, on-the-fly position and speed changes.
11-40VDC unregulated power input, RS-232 interface. Can use RS-485
using RJ-11 to provide control of multiple PT units. Cost: $1935
Includes PT unit, controller, cable and power supply. $1800 w/o power
supply.
_________________________________________________________________
_Efston Science Inc_
3350 Dufferin Street
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M6A 3A4
tel: 416.787.4581
fax: 416.787.5140
Efston is the Canadian Distributor for Edmund Scientific
Motorized Pan/Tilt platform with remote control:
(mounts upon a camera tripod)
- auto pan mode
- variable speed
- 2.75"W x 2.25"L platform with .25-20 mount screw
- independent +- 15 degree max vertical pan
- independent +- 90 degree max horizontal pan
- autopan switch selectable +- 30, +- 60, +-90 degree scans
- remote control has 20 foot cord
- cat # B38,485 US$215.00
- ac adapter B38,486 US$33.95
[1995 Catalog, page 111]
_________________________________________________________________
_Emco Intertest Inc _
27-1 Ironia Road
Flanders, NJ 07836
tel: 201.927.2900
fax: 201.927.8004
MicroPan PTX-400 very small P/T designed for remote viewing with
micro-CCD cameras. Weight 115g. Height under 7cm.
_________________________________________________________________
_Fujinon _
10 High Point Drive
Wayne, NJ 07470
tel: 201.633.5600
fax: 201.633.5216
Fujinon CPT-10. 300 deg pan, =/- 95deg tilt. 15 deg/sec speed. 2kg.
Payload 4kg. Analog input control.
_________________________________________________________________
_Omniview _
tel: 615.690.5600
Instead of a conventional camera, you use one with a very wide
fish-eye lens. The (very distorted) image is then sent thru a box that
digitizes and processes the data in order to simulate a regular
camera. You can (completely in software) pan, tilt, rotate, and zoom
the image with great flexibility. $10K.
_________________________________________________________________
_Photosea _
6377 Nancy Ridge Drive
San Diego, CA 92121
tel: 619.452.8903
Underwater pan-tilts including Cobra, very small design.
_________________________________________________________________
_Remote Ocean Systems _
5111-L Santa Fe Street
San Diego, CA 92109
tel: 619.483.3902
fax: 619.483.2407
Underwater P/T systems, expensive but very nicely packaged. PT-5 is a
new subminature P/T device that can accomodate a small CCD color
camera and mini wet&dry lights. The P/T is 13.5cm high and 10cm wide.
Uses small brushless motors with harmonic drives. Radiation tolerant
and corrosion resistant. 360 scan on both axes.
_________________________________________________________________
_RSI Research Ltd. _
Pacific Marine Technology Center
#3-203 Harbour Road
Victoria, BC. CANADA V9A 3S2
tel: 604.360.1025
fax: 604.360.1161
Underwater Pan/tilt devices.
_________________________________________________________________
_Hammacher Schlemmer_
Operations Center
9180 Le Saint Drive
Fairfield, OH 45014-575
tel: 800.543.3366
H-S is an upscale mail-order outfit that's been around since 1848 and
has stores in New York City, Beverly Hills and Chicago. They currently
show a wireless pan-tilt unit in their catalog. IR remote control, +/-
20 deg tilt and +/-90deg pan. Can be set to do continuous 90 deg
panning and can even control power zoom on many camcorder models.
Powered by 6V batteries built into Sony, Panasonic and Sanyo-Fisher or
JVC camcorders. 8.75cmH x 11cmW x 14.5cmL AND .45kg. Item 63201B in
H-S $149.95. The Picture shows the label SUNPAK and AP 200W (model
number?) - [If anyone has further information on the manufacturer or
other sales outlets let me know - nivek]
_________________________________________________________________
_Telemetrics _
Hawthorne, NJ
tel: 201.423.0347
Computer controlled P/T devices - fairly large though.
_________________________________________________________________
_TeleRobotics International, Inc. _
7325 Oak Ridge Hwy Suite 104
Knoxville, TN 37931
tel: 615.690.5600
fax: 615.690.2913
An all-electronic pan/tilt/zoom resampler. That is, they put a box
behind a camera with a fish-eye lens. The box has digital inputs for
pan, tilt, zoom, rotation. The box resamples the video signal and
produces an output as though the image were acquired by a camera with
those parameters. Used as an alternative to pan/tilt devices.
_________________________________________________________________
_Zebra Kinesis _
tel: 415.328.8884
contact:Jeff Kerr
Small Pan/tilt head.
_________________________________________________________________
[10.1.7] Measuring 3 or 6DOF position
How do I measure the postion of my manipulator or my mobile robot?
In many applications there is a need to accurately measure the
position of an end-effector (hand or gripper) or find coordinate
locations on objects, or track motion, or give a time and position
history of a moving object. Virtual reality applications need this
kind of device to provide realtime adjustments to views that are
projected to VR users. See [41]sci.virtual-worlds for discussions on
this topic. Robotics people have needed this to provide accurate
assessments of manipulator motions and mobile robot positions.
An excellent paper on the subject of sensing and methods of using that
information is: "Where Am I? Sensors and Methods for Autonomous Mobile
Robot Localization." Technical Report, The University of Michigan
UM-MEAM-94-21, December 1994." It is a comprehensive survey on Mobile
Robot Positioning. This survey is over 200 pages long, has 130
illustrations and nearly 300 references, and took well over one
man-year to complete. The survey is entitled "Where Am I? Sensors and
Methods for Autonomous Mobile Robot Localization" A description and
table of contents can be found [42]here. To download the report go
[43]here and read [44]this file first. Alternatively, you can look at
a detailed Table of Contents from within Johann Borenstein's WWW
Homepage at: [45]Johann's Home Page Before you download the actual
survey, you should read the "readme.txt" file for compatibility tips,
and you should read the "um_index.wp5" file to see if you want to
download all or only selected chapters of the report. The Global
Positioning System (GPS) is an excellent positioning system that is
useful in outdoor settings, although recent developments in
Psuedolites (Pseudo Satellities) may bring GPS technology indoors and
to urban envrionments. While accuracy is intentionally degraded by the
US Military recent advances in differential systems and innovative
tracking techniques can give 20cm real-time accuracy. Even newer
techniques such as carrier-phase are bringing this figure into the mm
range for real-time. See [46]news:sci.geo.satellite-nav for full
discussions of this technology.
_Papers:_ Useful papers to solve for transforms from positioning
devices for multiple reference frames:
* Roger Tsai and Rainer Lenz, IEEE Trans. on Robotics and
Automation, Jun 1989.
* C. C. Wang, IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, April
1992. Useful papers for evaluating 3 ad 6 DOF human input devices:
* Shumin Zhai, Investigation of Feel for 6 DOF Inputs: Isometric and
Elastic Rate Control for Manipulation in 3D Environments, Proc.
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 37th Annual Meeting,Seattle,
WA, October 1993.
* Shumin Zhai and Paul Milgram, Human Performance Evalulation of
Manipulation Schemes in Virtual Environments", Proc. Virtual
Reality Annual International Symposium, IEEE, Seattle, WA,
September 1993.
* Shumin Zhai and Paul Milgram, Human Performance Evalulation of
Isometric and Elastic Rate Controllers in a 6 DOF Tracking Task,
Proc. SPIE vol. 2057, Telemanipulator Technology", Boston, MA,
September 1993.
_________________________________________________________________
_Commercial Devices:_
_________________________________________________________________
_Blevins Enterprises _
tel: 208-885-3805
contact: Nick Sewell
Blevins writes their own utilities and sell 3D digitizers starting @
around $2,400 on up to around $75,000. Software is compatible with
Lightwave and 3D Studio modelling programs and will be ported to SGI
and PC's soon. Provide software to talk with Polhemus, a sonic
digitizer and a jointed-arm unit from Immersion.
_________________________________________________________________
_Cyberware _
8 Harris Court 3D
Monterey, CA 93940
tel: 408.373.1441
fax: 408.373.3582
Italian distributor:
91-22-6409-949
Has 3D scanner. Cyberware has software for editing 3D models, and
stitching multiple scans into a single coherent whole. Software is
$5-10K each. Cyberware 3030RGB/HIREZ scanner with MM motion platform,
complete with all software, training and one-year support costs [US]
$75,200.
_________________________________________________________________
_Eshed Robotics_
Eshed Robotec
Israel (HQ)
tel: 03-498136
fax: 03-498889
In the US
Eshed Robotec Inc.
445 Wall St.
Princeton, NJ 08540-1504
tel: 609.683.4884
tel: 800.777.6288
Eshed Robotec BV
Oude Torenweg 29
5388 RK Nistelrode
The Netherlands
tel: +31.412.611476
fax: +31.412.613185
net: [47]eshedbv@pi.net
url: [48]http://www.pi.net/~eshedbv/ and [49]http://www.eshed.com
Eshed's V-scope allows you to measure, record, process, and
demonstrate the motion of one or more bodies in one, two or three
dimensions. The V-scopeTM system uses tracking technology which
emits infrared signals to trigger ultrasonic response signals. This
technology allows full three-dimensional tracking within a space of
a few meters, with resolution of a fraction of a millimeter. See
[50]V-scope for more details.
_______________________________________________________________
_Intelligent Solutions Inc. _
One Endicott Avenue
Marblehead, MA 01945
tel: 617.639.8144
fax: 617.639.8144
net: isi@world.std.com
contact: Jim Maddox
Intelligent Solutions Inc. was formed in Nov. of 1993 by four of the
former engineers of Denning Mobile Robotics. They are focusing on
building smart sensors and their first product is the EZNav Position
Sensor. EZNav is a precision optical position sensor that can be
used on moving platforms such as automated guided vehicles, robots,
or material handling equipment. EZNav uses an eye safe scanning
laser with a 360 degree field of view to measure the azimuth angle
to wall mounted reference reflectors. This angle data can be used to
triangulate the position and heading relative to the known target
locations. EZNav is unique in its ability to use passive reflectors
as well as coded electronic targets. Current work includes adding
the triangulation calculations to the EZNav sensor and a new
Ultrasonic based position sensor.
Specs:
Target Range 30m passive up to 180m active
Abs. Accuracy +/- 0.03 degrees RMS
Scan Rate 12 per second
Data Rate 9.6k baud RS 232
Power 24 volts at 300 ma
Size 30cm Dia x 35cm High
Weight 4.5kg
An EZNav sensor with 10 passive targets costs $6,600. There is a ten
percent discount for educational uses.
_______________________________________________________________
_Kinetic Sciences_
3250 East Mall
Vancouver, BC, CANADA V6T 1W5
tel: 604.822.2144
fax: 604.822.6188
net: [51]info@kinetic.bc.ca
url:
[52]http://www.asi.bc.ca/asi/affiliates/kinetic/KSI_home_pg.html
Eagle Eye (TM) is a Power Macintosh application that accurately
tracks specially designed passive optical targets. It can track
multiple targets simultaneously in visually cluttered environments
using a single video camera. For each target that it can see, it is
able to determine seven parameters:
* the target's identity (via the information encoded on the marker);
* the target's position (X, Y, and Z with respect to the camera);
* the target's orientation (roll, pitch, and yaw with respect to the
camera).
The approach we have taken is particularly well suited to docking
and inspection applications. For further information, check out the
Eagle Eye web page at:
[53]http://www.asi.bc.ca/asi/affiliates/kinetic/KSI_Eagle_Eye.html
_______________________________________________________________
_NES North Electronic Systems S.p.A._
via Nazionale, 62
1-17043 CARCARE (SV), Italy
tel: +39-19-510420
fax: +39-19-512198 Distributed Local Positioning System (DLPS) is a
positioning system for indoor applications in a multi-robot
environment using active beacons with modulated light beams
(coherent red, non-coherent IR). The localization system also allows
communication by optical wireless links between hosts and robots.
The system utilizes and on-board rotating unit and a set of active
beacons distributed in the operating area. The active beacons are
optical transponders and, optionally, transceivers connected to a
IEEE 485 serial LAN.
Systems can operate up to 16m distance and with a localization
accuracy under 20mm in static and 70mm in dynamic localization. DLPA
was developed in cooperation with Laboratorium, DIST - University of
Genoa. email: sand@dist.unige.it, vercelli@dist.unige.it and URL
[54]website
_______________________________________________________________
_Polhemus Inc._
Burlington, VT
tel: 802.655.3139
fax: 802.655.1439
3Space, Isotrak, FasTrak: Electromagnetic devices for sensing xyz
and rotations remotely. Limited to 1m or so radius. Sensitive to
metallic objects in vicinity. Approx $3k
_______________________________________________________________
_Ascension Technology Corporation _
PO Box 527
Burlington VT 05402 USA
tel: 802.860.6440
fax: 802.860.6439
net: ascen@world.std.com
Sales: Jack Scully Technical Support: Steven Work Product is called
Flock of Birds. A 6d0f measuring device. Ftp site is
[55]ftp://ftp.std.com/ftp/vendors/Ascension/
gen_lit.txt
Contains general literature on 6D motion tracking system.
Accuracy Specifications, comments from prominent users, list of
3rd party software vendors, FAQ on tracking system, etc. Ascii
text.
tecpaper.wp6
Technical Description of Flock of Birds (TM) 6D tracking
system. In Binary WordPerfect 6.0 format.
userware.zip
Latest version of our User Software, including source code.
Enjoy. pkzipped binary file.
manual.wp6
Latest version of our User Manual. In Binary WordPerfect 6.0
format.
readme.txt
more info on files located in Ascension's FTP directory. Ascii
text.
Sensitivity to metal is claimed to be on the order 5 to 10 times
less than Polhemus tracker. Range and specifications are much better
as well.
The Ascension Flock of Birds tracker is DC pulsed, where the
Polhemus is AC magnetic field. The AC field set up standing waves in
metal (conduction and ferrous) which magnify the distortion effect.
Charts provided by Acension:
KEY PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS OF ASCENSION & POLHEMUS TRACKING DEVICES
Parameter Ascension Polhemus Polhemus
Flock of Birds Isotrak II Fastrak
Measurement Rate
(Measurements/sec)
1 Receiver 144 60 120
2 Receivers 144 30 60
@ Max Number of Rcvrs 144 30 30
Maximum Number of Receivers 30 2 32
Number of Transmitters to 1 1 4
Support Max Number of Receivers
Maximum Data Output Rate 312K 115K 115K
(Baud or Bytes)
Lag Increase with Multiple No Yes Yes
Receivers**
Range - Standard Transmitter 3' 5'* 10'*
- Extended Transmitter 8' N/A N/A
Accuracy Degradation Due to:
Conductive Metals Low High High
Stainless Steel None High High
(300 series)
CRT Interference Rejection Yes No Yes
LCD Noise Susceptability No Yes Yes
Unit Cost (1 Receiver) $2,695 $2,875 $5,750
* Note 1: Polhemus specifies range at maximum transmitter-sensor
separation distances. At these ranges, outputs will contain
significant amounts of noise, which may render their measurements
worthless. We will provide you with a number of references who have
independently assessed actual range performance of both Ascension
and Polhemus trackers.
** Note 2: For a complete discussion of latency in competitive
motion trackers, contact Ascension.
Specifications:
Technical
Translation range: plus or minus 3'(8' optional) in any direction
Angular range: plus of minuw 180 degrees Azimuth & Roll
plus or minus 90 degrees Elevation
Translation accuracy: 0.1" RMS
Translation resolution: 0.03"
Angular accuracy 0.5 degrees RMS
Angular resolution 0.1 degrees RMS @ 12"
Update rate: Up to 144 measurements/second
Outputs: X,Y,Z positional coordinates and orientation
angles or rotation matrix
Interface: RS-232C with selectable baud rates to 115,200; or
RS-422/485 with selectable baud rates to 310,000
Format: Binary
Modes: Point or stream
Physical
Transmitter: 3.75-inch cube (internally mounted in Enclosure or
externally mounted with 10' cable) or extended range
transmitter option: 12-inch cube externally mounte with
20' cable
Receiver: 1.0" x 1.0" x 0.8" cube (or optional 3-button mouse)
with 10' or 25' cable
Enclosure: 9.5" x 11.5" x 2.6"
Power: User provided or optional external plug-in: US/European
version
Environment: Large metallic objects in operating volume may degrade
performance
_______________________________________________________________
_RSI Research Ltd._
Pacific Marine Technology Center
#3-203 Harbour Road
Victoria, BC. CANADA V9A 3S2
tel: 604.360.1025
fax: 604.360.1161
RSI Research makes a 6 DOF joystick. It has a medium workspace
(about 10 cm radius) and several buttons.
_______________________________________________________________
_Shooting Star Technology _
1921 Holdom Avenue
Burnaby, B.C.
Canada V5B 3W4
tel: 604.298.8574
fax: 604.298.8580
ADL-1 6DOF tracker. Gives position/orientation measurements up to
240 times/second, with low latency (0.35 to 1.88 milliseconds.)
_______________________________________________________________
_Abrams-Gentile Entertainment, Inc., _
244 West 54th Street,
9th Floor, New York, NY 10019
tel: 212.757.0700
Mattel marketed the PowerGlove for use in gaming (Nintendo). It
tracked finger motions through small bend sensors. The Mattel
PowerGlove was developed by Abrams-Gentile. The sensors themselves
are simple resistors varying from about 200K to 500K ohms depending
on the amount of flex.
_______________________________________________________________
_Denning Branch International Robotics _
1401 Ridge Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15233
tel: (412) 322-4412
fax: (412) 322-2040
email: Soon. Messages to hpm@cs.cmu.edu will be forwarded.
Denning-Branch is a merger of Denning Mobile Robotics, once located
in the Boston area, and makers of human-size mobile robots since
1983, and Branch and Associates, of Hobart, Australia, designers and
builders of smaller mobile robots since 1979. LaserNav Robot-mounted
scanning infrared laser unit that uses wall mounted bar-coded
retroreflectors or active transponders to navigate to centimeter
precision in 10-meter-scale areas. $8K
_______________________________________________________________
_Guidance Control Systems (GCS) _
tel: 011 44 203 39 3911
fax: 011 44 203 39 4211
Contact: Malcolm Roberts
GCS's core group developed the rotating scanner and passive target
system. Featured in several papers out of Oxford. Uses passive
targets with barcodes. Targets have unique ID's and surveyed
positions. Rotating laser gives angles between targets. Target
positions combined with angles gives vehicle position and heading.
2Hz scan rate but clever use of dead reckoned information and kalman
filtering gives very impressive results. New products go to 200-300m
ranges.
_______________________________________________________________
_Innovision Systems_
30521 Schoenherr, Suite 104
Warren, MI 48093-3129
tel: 810.751.0600
fax: 810.751.0646
Innovision specialized in non-contact measurements. 2-3 dimensions.
On-site, software development, leasing. They are representatives for
several non-contact measurement systems. See Below.
_______________________________________________________________
_MTI Research Inc. _
313 Littleton Rd.
Chelmsford, MA 01824
contact: Ed MacLeod
tel: 508.250.4949
net: [56]http://www.tiac.net/users/mtir
Update speed: 20 hz Position accuracy: +/-0.05inches (1.27 mm) This
really depends on range as well. direction accuracy: +/- 0.05
degrees. 3D reference points covering up km distances. 1D, 2D or 3D
feedback. Cost: About $6K-$10K for positioning system. Custom
software available for graphing, updating etc. Accuracy available
even when the robot is moving at several meters/sec.
_______________________________________________________________
_Selcom Selective Electronics Inc _
21654 Melrose Avenue
Southfield, MI 48075
tel: 810.355.5900
In Sweden:
tel: +46-31-878110
fax: +46-31-278992
Selective markets optical triangulation laser-based devices and
laser gaging systems. They also make the Selspot tracking system.
The Selspot is a two camera system that registers 3D position of IR
LED's at very high data rates. Selspots Robot Check System can
provide non-contact 3D measurement and analysis of robot motion at
500 Hz rate. System has been used for over 20 years. Used in motion
studies for people, animals and robots. Active markers are used (IR
LEDs) Fast sampling up to 10K Hz. Selspot is marketed by:
_Innovision Systems _
30521 Schoenherr, Suite 104
Warren, MI 48093-3129
tel: 810.751.0600
fax: 810.751.0646
_______________________________________________________________
_Qualisys AB _
Ogardesvagen 4
S-433 30 Partille
Sweden
Qualisys
41C New London Turnpike
Glastonbury, CT 06033
tel: 203.657.3585
fax: 203.657.3595
MacReflex system uses CCD-based cameras for non-contacting
measurement of robots. Two camera system is typical. Uses small
passive targets and IR LED's colocated with the cameras lens. Video
processor calculates centroid of markers and displays in real-time.
Information is used to provide data and analysis of position,
velocity, acceleration, angles, angle velocity and acceleration and
position vs. time. Specs: Noise level 1:200000, resolution 1:70000,
Relative accuracy: 1:30000, and absolute accuracy 1:10000. Accuracy
is defined as standard deviation of difference between measured and
true positions/longest diagonal in measurement volume. 50Hz and
120Hz and high accuracies.
MacReflex is marketed by: _Innovision Systems _
30521 Schoenherr, Suite 104
Warren, MI 48093
tel: 810.751.0600
fax: 810.751.0646
_______________________________________________________________
Coordinate Measuring Machines
Coordinate Measuring Machines are now widely used for process
control, statistical monitoring, entering 3D from a physical part
into a CAD system and many other uses. CMM's tend to be large and
expensive and fixed but there are a number of devices now on the
market to provide accurate positioning information.
_______________________________________________________________
_Renishaw _
623 Cooper Court
Schaumburg, IL 60173
tel: 708.843.3666
fax: 708.843.1744
Renishaw makes a ballbar mechanism to measure and calibrate machine
tool motion errors including backlash, servo error, squareness,
straightness, axis reversal, vibration, scale mismatch etc. It uses
a precise linear measuring device and interpolates a circular
profile from which all the above information is calculated.
Renishaw also makes a high speed digitizing and scanning system for
the tool and die industry. It's a CMM style machine that can
generate NC programs from scanned parts. They also have a scanning
system that retrofits to existing CNC mills. _Supraporte Inc _
5145-I Avenida Encinas
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Portable 6-axis measuring system. Model 2000 now available with
battery power pack. Very accurate. Very expensive.
_______________________________________________________________
_Faro _
125 Technology Park
Lake Mary, FL 32746-6204
tel: 800.736.6063
tel: 407.333.9911
fax: 407.333.4181
Metrecom: 6DOF articulated pointer, like a portable CMM. Endpoint
accuracies are around .005" -> .025", depending on model.
Counterbalnaced design. Three models from 1.8m to 2.4m reach and
accuracies ranging from +/- .635mm to .127mm and prices from $14.4K
to $51.4K respectively.
_______________________________________________________________
_Chesapeake Laser Systems _
222 Gale Lane
Kennett Square, PA 19348
tel: 215.444.2300
fax: 215.444.2323
Laser metrology systems. CMS-3000 is a servo controlled tracking
laser interferometer measureing tool. The tracker follows a
retroreflective target whil providing real-time coordinate
information of the retro center location. Position of the target is
provided in XYZ coordinates via linear distance and two high
accuracy angular encoders. CMS-3000 can provide measurements over a
large volume. 30m radial, > 110 degrees elevation, > 270 horizontal.
Down to 0.6 micron resolution, 2 parts in 10^5 accuracy for range.
(1m/sec tracking) up to 6m/sec tracking at 5 micron resolution.
Lightweight and cost effective versus CMM's and offers speed and
accuracy advantages over theodolites and photogrammetry equipment.
System can be leased by hour/week/month. About $180K to buy.
_______________________________________________________________
[10.1.8] Measuring linear motion
There are very few devices to directly give absolute position for
linear motions. Often rack and pinion drives are combined with
geared rotary encoders to give absolute position. Here are some
manufacturers of Magneorestrictive sensors for measuring absolute
linear position. Accuracy is usually around 0.05% of full scale.
Futaba also makes an absolute linear position glass scale device.
_Magneostrictive Devices_ _Gemco Magnetek _
1080 N. Crooks Road
Clawson, MI 48017-1097
tel: 313.435.0700
fax: 313.435.8120
_Balluff _
PO Box 937
8125 Holton Drive
Florence, KY 41042
tel: 800.543.8390
fax: 606.727.4823
_MTS Systems Corporation (Temposonics) _
Sensors Division
Box 13218
Research Triangle Park, NC 27708
tel: 919.677.0100
fax: 919.677.0200
_Norstat _
PO Box 377
Hibernia, NJ 07842
tel: 201.586.2500
fax: 201.586.1590
_______________________________________________________________
[10.1.9] Interfacing sensors
_Atmos Technology,Inc _
1060 Lincoln Av,
San Jose Ca 95125
tel: 408.292.8066
fax: 408.292.8241
The AT1000A is a single chip sensor interface circuit that has been
used in pressure, acceleration, temperature and humidity
applications. 20 PIN SOIC Package, 12-Bit A/D Converter, 64 Bits
EEPROM memory. Programmable pulsed current source via EEPROM memory.
Three channel A/D: Iout1,Iout2, and Vdiff.
_______________________________________________________________
[10.2] Actuators
Most actuation uses electro-magnetic motors and gears but there have
been frequent questions regarding other forms of actuation including
'muscle-wires' and inexpensive RC-servos. How do I get a motor under
computer control? What kind of motor should I use? What are the
differences between actuator types? What other types of actuation
are there?
Types of motors:
* Synchronous
* Stepper
* AC servo
* Brushless DC servo
* Brushed DC servo
_______________________________________________________________
[10.2.1] RC-Servos
R/C servos for model airplanes, cars and other vehicles are light,
rugged, cheap and fairly easy to interface. Some of the units can
provide very high torques speed. For prices and specs see one of the
many Radio Control magazines on the market.
What is the wiring for R/C servos?
Three wire connector for RC-servos:
Pin 1 = White = Signal
Pin 2 = Red = +5
Pin 3 = Black = Signal and Power Ground
[Tang = pin 1]
The signal is a variable width pulse ranging from 1-2ms in duration
and repeating every 12-20 ms. The output shaft rotates to a position
porportional to the input pulse width. Input pulse width is compared
to an internal timer pulse. The timer period is controlled by a pot
coupled to the servo's output shaft. The difference between the two
pulse widths is an error signal. The servo attempts to reduce or
eliminate the error signal by driving the output shaft in the
appropriate direction. When the error signal is within about 5
micro-seconds the drivers are turned off to preventing oscillation
or 'hunting'.
___ ... ___
| | . | |
__| |__._____________________________________________| |____
1 to 2 ms width pulse goes from full CCW to full CW rotation
20 ms pulse to pulse.
How can you reverse a servo?
The easiest way to do this is to hit your R/C hobby shop and buy a
servo reverser. This is a dedicated electronic module that plugs
between the servo and the controller (usually the R/C receiver) and
processes the pulse to "reverse" it. Basically, the device uses a 3
msec one-shot and an XOR gate. If your local hobby shop doesn't have
them, check Ace R/C catalog. See ads in any R/C magazine.
A harder way is as follows: You have to reverse both the motor and
the potentiometer leads.
It would be much easier to reverse the control input. All modern
radios have "reverse" switches for all channels. In the past you
could have one of 3 solutions:
1. Live with the servo as-is. Design your model with the servo
direction in mind.
2. Some companies had "reversed" servos. Probably no longer
available.
3. Use a gadget between the receiver and radio that reverses the
servo. Possibly a single 4538 (Motorola MC14538) with 2 resistors,
3 capacitors and a trimmer pot.
4. Modify the servo. This is the most difficult and least desired
solution. Impossible if the motor is soldered directly to the PCB
(seen in some servos). [from Itai Nashon]
The following article is an excellent source on servo facts and a
PIC-based circuit to control R/C Servos. (See the Microcontrollers
Section for more info on the PIC)
The Juggler's Delight: PIC-based Controller For Up To Eight Servos
by Scott Edward. The Computer Applications Journal, October 1994 p14
[A kit is available as well for the circuit, including PC board,
IC's etc]
How can you control a servo from a parallel port?
From Stew Bailey (sbailey@sensemedia.net):
With one of the PC's internal timers cranked up, it is possible to
control eight servos from a common parallel port with nothing but a
simple TSR interrupt service routine and a cable. In fact, power can
be pulled from the disk drive power connector and the PC can run all
servos directly with no additional hardware. The only down side is
that the PC wastes some processing power servicing the interrupt
handler.
How can you implement force servoing with RC servos?
From Dave Hershberger, [57]hersh@nmt.edu
I successfully built a force-feedback circuit for my Futaba hobby
servos. I took the back off the servo case to expose the solder
side of the control PC board, and using my scope with the servo
active, I looked for contacts whose signal looked like it varied
with how much work the motor was doing. I found 2 pulse-width
modulated signals which correspond to the difference between the
command signal and the current shaft angle, one for each rotation
direction.
The signals are not logic-level, but vary between, say, 1 and 2
volts, so I built a simple comparator circuit to convert these to
logic level. I fed these into my 68HC11 and used the Input Compare
feature to measure the timing.
To connect to these points, I used some thin stranded wire and
soldered directly to the PC board in the servo. Obviously you need
to be careful when doing this to avoid damaging the servo. Then I
threaded the pair out through the same hole that the control and
power wires use.
One thing to keep in mind with this setup is that it measures the
error signal, not the force. Therefore when you tell your servo to
move to a different angle, you'll get an error signal for a few
wavelengths until it is able to turn the shaft to the new position,
even if there is no resistance to the movement. If your software
can take this into account, it works fairly well.
There's also the problem of saturation - if the external torque on
the servo shaft is actually turning the shaft against the motor,
the error signal will be saturated, and you won't know how much
past saturation you are.
How to implement RC servo control from a Microcontroller like the HC11?
This is commonly done with the HC11. The simplist method uses a 32mS
pulse, which works with all RC servos I (Tom) have tried. This is
the natural roll-over time of the free-running clock (FRC) (assuming
an 8MHz XTAL). The output-compare IO lines can be configured to go
high on the FRC roll-over, and then to go low when their set value
matches the FRC. With this set up, just place the correct value in
the timer's compare register and the PWM signal is generated; no
interrupts required!
If you want to generate PWM with 20mS, you can set up an interrupt
to go off after 20mS, set the output line(s) high, and set the
output compare(s) to the current time plus the desired offset. Then
set the next interrupt to occur after another 20mS. Still pretty
easy.
For code examples, check out the TRP2 and TRP3 files in:
[58]ftp://cherupakha.media.mit.edu/pub/incoming/ This is the
code for 2 articles Tom Dickens wrote in The Robot Practitioner.
Commercial controller for RC servos:
_Pontech _
401 E 17th St Suite B
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
tel: 714.642.8458
Pontech has a SV100 Servo Motor Controller which is based on the PIC
16C84 microcontroller. It accepts RS232 serial data signal from a
host computer and poutput PWM to control up to four RC servo motors.
Multiple boards can be parallel together to allow more servos. They
also sell FUTABA FP-S148 servos. boards: $49.95, servos: $16.95, +
$5.00 shipping and handling _Vantec _
460 Casa Real Pl.
Nipomo, CA 93444
tel: 805.929.5055
Design and manufacture of Electronic Systems for remote control
mobile robots and vehicles. Vantec makes a servo control that has
been used successfully in this type of application and can be used
for velocity or position closed loop control. We can also modify R/C
transmitters for operation on special frequencies. contact: Rich
Howe
_______________________________________________________________
[10.2.2] Shape Memory Materials
Nickel-titanium alloys were first discovered by the Naval Ordinance
Laboratory decades ago and the material was termed NiTinOL. These
materials have the intriguing property that they provide actuation
through cycling of current through the materials. It undergoes a
'phase change' exhibited as force and motion in the wire.
At room temperature Muscle Wires are easily stretched by a small
force. However, when conducting an electric current, the wire heats
and changes to a much harder form that returns to the "unstretched"
shape - the wire shortens in length with a usable amount of force.
Nitinol can be stretched by up to eight percent of their length and
will recover fully, but only for a few cycles. However when used in
the three to five percent range, Muscle Wires can run for millions
of cycles with very consistent and reliable performance.
Table 1. Flexinol Muscle Wire Properties
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wire Linear Typical Deform. Recovery Typical
Wire Diameter Resist. Current Weight* Weight* Rate**
Name (microns) (ohm/m) (mA) (grams) (grams) (LT/HT)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Flexinol 037 37 860 30 4 20 52/68
Flexinol 050 50 510 50 8 35 46/67
Flexinol 100 100 150 180 28 150 33/50
Flexinol 150 150 50 400 62 330 20/30
Flexinol 250 250 20 1,000 172 930 9/13
-----------------------------------------------------------------
* Multiply by 0.0098 to get force in Newtons
** Cycles per minute, in still air, at 20 Centigrade
LT = low temp 70 degrees C, HT high temp 90 degrees C
Research into shape memory alloys, polymer gels and micromechanism
devices is ongoing. Library browsing is a must to get recent
information on these areas.
_______________________________________________________________
_Mondotronics _
524 San Anselmo Ave.,
#107
San Anselmo, CA 94960
tel: 415.455.9330
tel: 800.374.5764
fax: 415.455.9333
net:
A number of muscle wire (nitinol) projects including a small walking
machine. Book and sample kit with 1m each of 50,100 and 150 um wire
- enough to build all 14 projects in book. [59]Mondo
_______________________________________________________________
_Memry Technologies _
57 Commerce Drive
Brookfield, CT 06804
tel: 203.740.7311
fax: 203.775.2359
Memry sell a Mitsubishi developed polyurethane based Shape Memory
Polymer. The material undergoes property changes in hardness,
flexibility, elastic modulus and vapor permeability under
temperature change. Medical applications is one focus for this
material.
_______________________________________________________________
_Milford Instruments _
United Kingdom
tel: (0977) 683665
fax: (0977) 681465.
Importers of the Parallax BASIC Stamps and Muscle Wires into the UK.
_______________________________________________________________
_TiNi Alloy Company _
1621 Neptune Drive
San Leandro, CA 94577
Sheets and wire of NiTinOL alloys.
[10.2.3] Other Actuators
_______________________________________________________________
_Bridgestone Corporation _
3-2-25 Nishikubo,
Musashino City, Tokyo 180.
tel: 0422 54 5820
Rubbertuators: Rubber-based device that bends under applied
pneumatic pressure. For a rotation unit typical rotation angles are
360,120,90 degrees for linear unit the contraction rate cannot
exceed 20%.
_______________________________________________________________
[10.2.4] Stepper Motors
Wally Blackburn has provided a stepper motor controller design that
easily connects to a parallel port:
[60]ftp://ft.bode.ee.ulaberta.you/pub/cookbook/unsorted/pc_stepr.zip
This is the info file for the Opto-Isolated Stepper Motor
Controller. While the info is oriented towards control via a PC
parallel port, the controller can really interface to just about
anything.
The controller uses a UCN5804B controller IC from Allegro. This chip
can control motors at up to 35V and 1.25A continuously. Peaks of up
to 50V and 1.5A can be tolerated according to the data sheet.
The inputs to the UCN5804B are optically isolated from the control
circuitry. Input control voltages from 3 to 12V are acceptable.
Diodes are used to protect the UCN5804B from negative transients
from the motor windings. For efficient low-voltage operation,
Schottky diodes are used.
I have recently rewritten the instructions and included a simple
parallel port control program in QuickBASIC. The Turbo C source is
still included also. I still have kits for the controller. Wally
Blackburn wrb@ccsitn.cb.att.com Here are some files on the operation
and use of stepper motors from Steve Walz:
[61]ftp://ftp.armory.com/pub/user/rstevew/ Useful files include
stepper.viz, steppers.tut, ibmlpt.faq, and tomlpt.faq
_______________________________________________________________
[10.2.5]Controllers
There are many controllers for motors and vendors of controllers for
motors in the marketplace. There are only a few here that might be
of interest because of low cost or flexibility. See also [62][18.10]
Motor Drivers
_______________________________________________________________
_Animatics Corporation_
3050 Tasman Drive
Santa Clara, CA
95054-1116
tel: 408.748.8721
fax: 408.748.8725 Animatics makes an RS-232 based communications
motor controller. The Series 5000 Servo Control can drive from 1-4
servo motors either as a stand alone unit or slaved to a host
computer via RS232. Includes fully digial automatic PID filter (no
pots) All tuning and config parameters can be sent in the form of a
file transfer. Can control brushed or brushless motors. Does not
need a host for control. Up to 3 Amps continuous current per axis.
Full 4axis model is about $3K.
[10.2.6]DC Motors
This is a huge industrial area. A typical new autmobile might have
30 motors these days and there are a lot of motor manufacturers. See
the Thomas Register for a listing. It is beyond the scope of this
FAQ to provide addresses for all manufacturers, but I'll provide a
list of those who've been mentioned and might be of interest.
_Mabuchi Motor America Corp._
475 Park Avenue South (32 St.)
New York, NY 10016
tel: 212.686.3622
fax: 212.532.4263
One of the largest manufacturers of small motors. Found in R/C cars.
_______________________________________________________________
[10.3] Imaging for Robotics
[This is a new and incomplete section - need more information here]
There are a wide variety of frame grabbers, computer vision systems
and image processing tools available. For VME, Multibus, PC Bus,
even SBUS and STD, there are a number of options for getting images
into your computer.
_______________________________________________________________
_Analogic Corporation_
8 Centennial Drive
Peabody, MA 01960
tel: 508.977.3000 Howard Cohen
fax: 508.977.6813
_DASM-VIP_
Input:
RGB, Y/C, NTSC, RS-170A, CCIR, RS-343A
Memory:
up to 16mb
Bus:
SCSI (2.5 Mb/s asynch, or 5 Mb/s synch.) Can be interfaced to
PC/ISA via SCSI card.
Processing:
TMS320C31 33.3 MHz, 33.3 MFLOPs, 16.7 MIPS. Analogic also
provides an 'ISA bus Floating-Point DSP Signal Processor' AP85c
with a SCSI port and 5 TMS320C31 processors for 200 MFLOPs, and
up to 16Mb of global DRAM and upt to 1Mb of local SRAM per
processor.
Other:
RS-343A, CCIR, NTSC, or S-Video display output. User programmed
RS-232 port for debugging, or whatever. An optional
multi-tasking realtime DSP operating system written by Analogic
is available. DASM-VIP with 16Mb costs $5995. The AP85c with
16Mb is $12,600.
_______________________________________________________________
_Cognex Corp._
One Vision Drive
Natick, MA 01760-2059
tel: 508.650.3000 Joseph B. Considine - sales rep
tel: 508.650.3332
Offers a vision system mostly targeted for industry. Good selection
of image processing routines. _5000 Series_
Input:
Up to 4 cameras multiplexed, RS-170 or CCIR 12 bit grey scale
Memory: up to 16Mb
Bus:
ISA
Processing:
25Mhz 68030, 68882 Floating point coprocessor, 'VC-1' custom
ASIC for 2D correlation, blob analysis, histograms, and various
transforms, 'VC-2' custom ASIC for character recognition, line
finding, edge detection, Gaussian and LaPlacian filtering.
Other:
Functions as VGA adapter eliminating the need for a separate
video card -- allows display of images. Also provides RGB and
monochrome video outputs.
_______________________________________________________________
_Coreco Inc._
6969 Trans-Canada Highway
Suite 113
St. Laurent Quebec
Canada H4T 1V8
tel: 514.333.1301
tel: 800.361.4914 (USA) Ralph Tesson - sales rep
fax: 514.333.1388
A variety of ISA DSP-based bus frame grabbers and imaging cards for
PCs. Inputs for many cards includes RGB, NTSC, RS-170, CCIR, or PAL
24 bit color, Y-C, RS-330, up to 16Mb VRAM and 64Mb DRAM. DSP-based
boards. Outputs include external display support, composite video
etc. Wide variety of convolutions and logical operations on images
available including histogramming.
_______________________________________________________________
_Current Technology Inc_
97 Madbury Road
Durham, NH 03824
tel: 603.868.2270
contact: Michael Glover
fax: 603.838.1352
_FF1 Frame Grabber_
Input:
RS-170 or CCIR
Memory:
up to 1024x1024x16 bits image memory.
Bus:
Half-size XT slot.
Processing:
Analog Devices ADSP 2105 DSP (20 MOPs). Performs 3x3
convolution in 390 ms.
Other:
Library of C callable functions, and windows DLL. Very
inexpensive -- $995.
_______________________________________________________________
_Data Cube _
[real-time frame buffers and imaging analysis] [need address]
_______________________________________________________________
_Data Translation_
100 Locke Drive
Marlboro, MA 01752
tel: (508) 481-3700
tel: (800) 525-8528 fax: (508) 481-8627 Offers 8 different models of
general purpose monochome frame grabbers with various resolutions
and memory sizes.
_______________________________________________________________
_Dipix Technologies Inc._
1051 Baxter Road
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K2C 3P1
tel: 613.596.4942
tel: 800.724.5929
contact: Paul Lamar X146 Regional Sales Mgr
Dipix offers 3 general purpose frame-grabbers:
_XPG-1000 Power Grabber_
Input:
RS-170, CCIR, digital, or programmable. Multiple input modules.
Memory:
up to 256Mb of image memory, 512Kb cache
Bus:
ISA/VL and PCI bus
Processing:
50 Mhz TMS320C40 DSP from TI (which is programmable in C) and
'Power Processing Module' with on-board ALU, CONV, and HIST.
Other:
Optional real-time display
_P360 Power Grabber_
Input:
4 analog or one 8 or 16-bit digital input, programmable, or
RS-170, RS-330, CCIR.
Memory:
up to 80Mb (4 min)
Bus:
ISA/VL
Processing:
TMS320C30 DSP from TI (which is programmable in C). DT-Connect
bus.
Other:
Realtime display available
_FPG-44 Power Grabber_
Input:
Same as XPG-1000
Memory:
512kb to 8 MB 0 wait state SRAM
Processing:
TMS320C44 DSP from TI (programmable in C)
Other:
real-time display card available software compatible with above
models
_______________________________________________________________
_ImageNation Corporation_
P.O. Box 276
Beaverton, OR 97075-0276
tel: 503.641.7408
tel: 800.366.9131
fax: 503.643.2458
bbs: 503.626.7763
net: 75211.2640@compuserve.com
ImageNation makes video frame grabbers in a variety of
configurations and options.
ImageNations Website is located at [63]ImageNation
CX100 Precision Video Frame Grabber
The CX100 Video Frame Grabber is a precision image capture board in
the ISA bus configuration. It is an 8 bit, half slot card ideal for
compact applications. Compatible with monochrome video in either
NTSC or CCIR formats. Allows real time capture to dual port video
RAM mapped into the computer's memory. This provides fast, random
access to the captured image for even the most demanding image
processing needs. The image transfer rate is 1 Mbyte per second. The
CX100 also has a display output for viewing live video or a captured
image on an external monochrome monitor. Analog RGB, 30 Hz
interlaced video output is an option available for false color
display (this is not VGA compatible). In addition, there is a
trigger input for synchronizing image acquisition to an external
event or for operation with an asynchronous (resettable) camera.
The CX100 is a +5 volt only design. It consumes less than three
watts and has a power down mode. The all digital synchronization
scheme provides a rock solid image and an +/- 3 nS sampling jitter
specification. Video noise is less than one LSB (least significant
bit). The automatic detection of NTSC or CCIR video, coupled with
the excellent jitter performance, ensures operation with standard
and resettable cameras as well as video recorders. Hardware
controlled field or frame grab, software adjustable offset and gain,
automatic look up table (LUT) load and non-volatile configuration is
supported. Input and output LUTs allow gamma correction, contrast
and brightness adjustment, and thresholding in real time. The
optional overlay RAM allows text and graphics to be displayed on top
of live video or a captured image. The video overlay can display 15
LUT selectable colors (gray levels).
Lots of software support is also provided. Software and examples are
available on ImageNation's BBS.
ImageNation ImageNation also offers versions of the CX frame grabber
in the compact PC/104 format. PC/104 is the familiar ISA bus in a
compact, low power, 3.6 X 3.8 inch format. It is ideal for embedded
applications. ImageNation supports multiple camera and display
applications with a four to one video multiplexor available in ISA
or PC/104 versions. Contact ImageNation today for more information.
_______________________________________________________________
_Imaging Technology Inc._
55 Middlesex Turnpike
Bedford, MA 01730-1421
tel: 617.275.2700
fax: 217.275.9590
Offers a modular vision system that can be taylored for the
application. Both VME and PC ISA/VL-bus platforms are supported. It
seems likely, however, that when all the required modules are
selected, the system will have a fairly large pricetag.
A system consists of an 'image manager' or IML which is either a VME
or PC ISA/VL-bus compatible board. It contains some framstore memory
and a slot for the 'acquisition module'. For the PC version, the IML
can be used as the system VGA adapter, eliminating the need for a
separate display card or module. To add one of the many available
computational modules, the 'Computational Module Controller' or CML
must be purchased, which also plugs onto (sort of) the IML. The CML
has slots for either one or two plug-on computational modules. So,
as you can see, it adds up quick. About $23k for a system with 2 C31
DSP computational modules. Device drivers are available for
DOS/Windows, VxWorks, OS-9, and Solaris.
There are 4 available acquisition modules:
1. Variable Scan: interfaces to RS-170 and CCIR cameras
2. Fast Analog Acquisition: interfaces to high frame rate analog
cameras
3. Color Acquisition: interfaces to NTSC, PAL, RGB or multiple
RS-170/CCIR cameras. One interesting feature of this module is the
ability to program your own color space. Otherwise, it supports
HSI, YUV, YIQ and YCrCb color spaces.
4. Digital Acquistion: interfaces to RS-422 or TTL video sources.
There are 5 available computational modules:
1. Convolver/Arithmetic Logic Unit (CM-CLU): Accelerates convolution.
e.g. a 4x4 convolution on an 8-bit 512x512 image takes 7.5 ms.
2. Programmable Accelerator (CM-PA): Contains a TMS320C31 DSP from TI
(which can be programmed in C), 4Mb image memory and 1Mb of
EEPROM.
3. Histogram/Feature Extraction Processor (CM-HF): Performs realtime
histograms and feature detection.
4. Median and Morphological Processor (CM-MMP): performs
morphological filtering, erosion, and dilation.
5. Binary Correlator (CM-BC): Performs high-speed template matching
and binary morphology.
_______________________________________________________________
_Mandex Technology, Inc._
1191 Chicago Road
Troy, MI 48083
tel: 810.585.1165
fax: 810.585.3745
contact: M. Gupte
SMART EYE I: DSP-based real-time image processing system designed
specifically for mobile and fixed base robotics systems. Stand-alone
image processing system on a single board. Low power consumption,
small form factor, and low weight. The single board system includes:
four monochrome camera inputs, video digitizer (gain and offset
software adjustable), input look-up table, two frame grabbers,
additional two video buffers, color mappable image display buffer,
color mappable graphics overlay buffer, RGB display driver, serial
communications port, and application program RAM and EPROM. Program
code can be burned into EPROM. Wide variety of language and
development platform support. Additional hardware expansion to
provide addtional I/O capabilities.
_______________________________________________________________
_Matrox International Corp._
1055 St. Regis Blvd. Dorval
Quebec, Canada H9P 2T4
tel: 514.685.2630
tel: 800.361.4903
contact:Spiro Plagakis - sales rep
fax: 514.685.2853
The IMAGE series consists of the following mutually compatible
hardware:
* IMAGE-1280 Baseboard consists of a TMS34020 GSP, TMS34082 FPU, 4Mb
of DRAM, custom ASICS for fast data transfer, and a high
resolution RGB display driver.
* IMAGE-ASD is a monochrome acquisition card that plugs into the ISA
bus.
* IMAGE-CLD is a color acquisition card that does realtime RGB to
HSI conversion and also plugs into the ISA bus.
* IMAGE-RTP performs a whole slew of processing functions using a
bunch of ASICS (e.g. histograms, LaPlacians, morphologies, logical
operators, erosion, dilation, centroids, pattern matching, more)
* IMAGE-FPU accelerates large kernel convolutions and FFTs
Matrox also offers an extensive image processing library and
utilities that run under Windows.
_______________________________________________________________
_Sharp Electronics_
16841 Armstrong Ave.
Irvine, CA 92714
tel: 714.261.6224
tel: 800.562.7427
fax: 714.261.9321
The basic system that Sharp offers is the GPB-1
Input:
4 multiplexed RS-170 inputs 8 bit greyscale. Optional 'Incard'
allows 3 parallel camera inputs, or one RGB input, but occupies
another ISA slot.
Memory:
12 512x512x8 bit framestores.
Bus:
ISA
Processing:
High-speed ASICS which perform convolution, histogram analysis,
feature extraction, connectivity analysis, more. These
operations all take place at 40 ns/pixel. Thus, for example, a
3x3 convolution takes 12 ms for a 512x512x8 bit image. Other
processing boards (see below) are available and external
interfaces are provided for the addition of a separate Alacron
i860 card with 80 Mflops of performance (available 2/95).
Other:
VGA output for displaying images. An optional 'Single monitor
adapter' acts as the system VGA adapter.
There are four function-specific computational cards that plug into
the GPB-1:
1. Alignment card: performs normalized correlation with model data.
2. Auxlut card: has dual 64k 16 bit input 8 bit output lookup tables.
A possible application would be RGB to HSI conversion.
3. Auxwarp Card: 'a pixel re-sampler that may be used to modify the
geometric shape of an object.'
4. Memory Mapping: Maps large amounts of image data to ISA bus and
allows random access of regions of interest, say. Also it allows
new GPB-1 commands to be loaded in and ready to go while the GPB-1
is busy with its current command. Occupies a separate ISA slot.
Sharp also has available a Windows algorithm development tool which
allows the user to develop algorithms using interpreted scripts --
thus eliminating the compiling step. The scripts can then be
converted to C-code and compiled, if appropriate. Over 250
C-callable image processing functions are provided.
The basic GPB-1 system costs $11,000. A system with an Incard, and
Auxlut runs around $20,000.
_______________________________________________________________
_Teleos Research_
576 Middlefield Road
Palo Alto, CA 94301, USA
tel: 415/328-8800
fax: 415/328-8880
net: info@teleos.com
URL: [64]http://teleos.com/ Advanced Vision Platform, AVP-100
provides:
* stereo range measurements
* motion measurements
* 3D model-based object tracking
* video frame rate performance
AVP-100 consists of a video processing unit containing an embedded
processor, the new PRISM-4 accelerator board, and interface modules.
To use the system, all that is required is a camera and a host
processor with an Ethernet interface.
Connect to [65]http://teleos.com/ for more information or send
e-mail to info@teleos.com with the subject 'AVP-100'. _TIM-40
PC-based Vision Systems_
There are about a handful of companies that support TIM-40 module
platforms. (TIM-40 is a specification developed by TI and industry
to incorporate the TMS320C40 into a flexible, modular architecture.
A single TIM-40 module is 2.5" x 4.2".) The C40 is often referred to
as a 'next generation transputer' because of its six 20Mb per sec.
comports which make connecting multiple C40s together very easy. The
speed at which data can be exchanged makes it well suited for
multiprocessor image processing. A system consists of a computer
host-specific motherboard (that the TIM-40 modules plug into) and
the appropriate TIM-40 modules. All companies listed below support
both VME and PC/ISA daughter boards, however, only the PC/ISA boards
are described. Since these systems typically consist of more than
one processor, development software that supports multiple
processors would be nice. 3L Parallel C is an ANSI C compiler that
allows you to write multitasked software and divide the tasks
between the available processors at compile time. It's built ontop
of the TI C compiler which is known for its optimizing and efficient
instruction scheduling. Data is sent between arbitrary tasks (which
may reside on separate processors) by sending C structures. Thus,
the development environment is comfortable and intuitive. All
companies listed offer 3L Parallel C.
_______________________________________________________________
_Transtech Parallel Systems Corp._
20 Thornwood Drive
Ithaca, NY 14850-1263
tel: 607.257.6502 Andy Stevens - sales rep
fax: 607.257.2980
TIM-40 PC/AT motherboard: 4 TIM-40 sites. Communication between one
TIM-40 slot and PC takes place through 1K FIFO buffer. JTAG support
for debugging. RGB/Composite framegrabber module: occupies 2 TIM-40
slots and accepts RS-170 RS-330, CCIR, NTSC, PAL, Y/C or RGB. Has an
onboard 50Mhz TMS320C40 (50 MFLOPs). 3Mb of VRAM and up to 4Mb of
DRAM is available. Flexible Memory TIM-40: occupies 1 TIM-40 slot,
has onboard 50 Mhz TMS320C40s (50 MFLOPs) and up to 4Mb of DRAM.
Dual C40 TIM-40: occupies 1 TIM-40 slot, has 2 onboard 50 Mhz
TMS320C40 (100 MFLOPs) and 512k SRAM per processor. Display TIM-40:
allows display of RGB images.
_______________________________________________________________
_Spectrum Signal Processing Inc. _
8525 Baxter Place, 100 Production Court
Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 4V7
tel: 604 421-5422
fax: 604 421-1764
508 366-7355 Mark Coutour
800 232 1842 Paul DeBruyn
800 663-8986
QPC40 Motherboard: 4 TIM-40 sites. Communication between any of the
4 TIM-40 slots and the PC takes place through 2 16 bit ISA bus
locations (one for transmit, one for receive) per TIM-40 slot. JTAG
support for debugging.
RGB/Composite framegrabber module: occupies 2 TIM-40 slots and
accepts RS-170 or RGB. Has an onboard 50Mhz TMS320C40 (50 MFLOPs)
and a RAMDAC for displaying RGB images. 32kb of EEPROM, 512kb of
SRAM, and up to 16Mb of DRAM is available. Currently, (11/94) this
module is not supported by 3L Parallel C, nor does it have framegrab
software source available.
Several single C40 TIM-40 modules are offered that differ in memory
models -- some have EEPROM for boostrapping, or up to 8Mb of DRAM
offered on a single TIM-40, or up to 65Mb od DRAM on a double
TIM-40.
Dual C40 TIM-40: occupies 1 TIM-40 slot, has 2 onboard 50 Mhz
TMS320C40 (100 MFLOPs) and 512k SRAM per processor.
Spectrum also offers ILIB -- an image processing library with
routines to perform convolution, LaPlacians, high and lowpass
filtering, more.
_______________________________________________________________
_Traquair Data Systems Inc _
Tower Building, 112 Prospect St.
Ithaca, NY 14851
tel: 607.272.4417 Steve Bradshaw
fax: 697.272.6211
HEPC2 Motherboard: 4 TIM-40 Sites. Communication between one TIM-40
slot and the PC host takes place through 2 16 bit ISA locations (one
for transmit, one for receive). JTAG support for debugging.
CFG-RGB framegrabber module: occupies 2 TIM-40 slots and accepts
RS-170 or RGB. Has an onboard 50Mhz TMS320C40 (50 MFLOPs). 1Mb of
VRAM framestore and 4Mb of DRAM memory onboard. Frame grab software
and source is provided.
VIPTIM convolution accelerator: occupies 2 TIM-40 slots. Contains a
50MHz TMS320C40 and ASICs that can convolve at 12.5 million pixels
per sec. with kernels up to 7x6 or 14x3. 3, 1Mb VRAM framestores and
4Mb DRAM memory onboard.
HETwin dual C40 TIM-40: occupies 1 TIM-40 slot, has 2 onboard 50 Mhz
TMS320C40s (100 MFLOPs) and 512kb SRAM per processor. Similar model
with 2 C44s and 1Mb SRAM per processor will be available early 95.
HEQUAD quad C44 TIM-40: occupies 1 TIM-40 slot, and has 4 onboard
TMS320C40s (200 MFLOPs) and 512kb SRAM per processor.
Traquair also offers the following software:
EYELIB: image processing library (different than ILIB (?)) that
performs convolution, histograms, logical operations, more.
CDSOFT: a utility that works with 3L Parallel C that allows the
display of RGB image data to the PC host's VGA monitor in less
than realtime.
Mathlib: a math library accelerator for the C40 that in many cases
more than doubles the speed of some floating point calculations
(e.g. sin).
Matlab interface: allows an arbritrary C40 processor to execute
functions in Matlab (that's running on the PC host).
_______________________________________________________________
[10.4] Wireless Communication
Tethers for supplying power and communication are sometimes
impractical and at best an annoyance. Digital communication via RF
and IR links is becoming cheaper and a number of companies are
providing off-the-shelf solutions. For basic serial line
communication a wide variety of radio modems are available that use
fixed frequencies or spread spectrum techniques. In many cases they
are also transparent. That is, you plug them directly into serial
ports on the robot and off-board computing directly. Higher
bandwidths such as Ethernet or high speed synchronous serial require
different hardware. However, with high speed serial communication
you may even be able to SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocal) or PPP
(Point-to-Point Protocol) instead of using a LAN-based device.
This area of communication is changing very quickly and new products
and companies are appearing every day.
See also a nice list at: [LIST IS NO LONGER THERE - AWAITING NEW
SITE] ftp://csd4.csd.uwm.edu/pub/Portables/Wireless/wireless-modems
or gopher://csd4.csd.uwm.edu List Maintained by David Kent,
dkent@world.std.com
_______________________________________________________________
[10.4.1] RF Modems
[David Kent] RF or wireless modems provide data communication
without tethers and cables. Wireless systems can be susceptible to
noise, and multipathing (echos) which will result in tranmission
errors. A smart wireless modem will guarantee error free data gets
from one end to the other. This is accomplished by an internal
microprocessor which packetizes and addresses data. It also checks
received packets for errors and automatically requests a
retransmission from the sending modem if there is an error. All this
occurs transparently to the user. The users' RS-232 data stream goes
in one modem and comes out the other. Another advantage of this
method is that since packets are addressed, more than two modems can
share a single frequency without interference, however throughput
goes down accordingly. These work well with RS-232 devices that you
cannot run custom software on, eg. printers, plotters, bar code
scanners, as well as computers. Dumb modems on the other hand simply
transmit the data and hope it gets to the other end. Since there is
no addressing, any modems on the same frequency and in range will
receive all transmissions. Dumb modems are often used where the
equipment connected to the modem handles error detection/ correction
and addressing. Software libraries are available that work with
specific dumb modems to provide smart functionality. If you are
connecting a computer running custom software to the wireless modem
anyway, this may be the most cost effective solution. There are also
two main categories relating to the radio frequency (RF) portion of
the wireless modem. These are spread spectrum (unlicensed) and
VHF/UHF (licensed). Licensed means you need an FCC license. Costs a
couple hundred dollars to process the paperwork. Generally not a
problem getting one unless you live in some urban areas. Nice
collections of information and vendors of wireless modems are at
[66]Wireless. and [67]http://hydra.carleton.ca/info/wlan.html
_Comrad, Communications Research and Development Corporation_
7210 Georgetown Road, Suite 300
Indianapolis, IN 46268
tel: 317.290.9107
fax: 317.291.3093 Comrad CCL901-DP 900 MHz Wireless Data Link. 500
meter range can be extended through additional transponders. RS232 -
38Kbaud. Battery pack available for portable applications. Two
transceiver units, software, power adapter, serial cables for
$449.95. Modems. Two channels: 1200-38,400 baud, 100m range, 20m
range through two walls. Easy to set up.
_Cylink _
310 N. Mary Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
tel: 408.735.5800
tel: 800.533.3958
fax: 408.735.6643 AirLink - series of highspeed synch or async
modems to 256kb/s. Interfaces include V.11, RS-232, EIA-530. Spread
spectrum device operating in 902-928Mhz range.
_GRE America, _
Belmont, CA,
tel: 800.233.5973 GINA 6000, spread spectrum, smart wireless modem,
up to 128 Kbps, 902MHz, 1 watt
_Hamtronics, Inc. _
65-D Moul Rd.
Hilton, NY 14468-9535
tel: 716.392.9430
fax: 716.392.9420 1200 and 9600 baud units/modules for a few hundred
dollars.
_Micrilor Inc _
17 Lakeside Park,
Wakefield, MA 01880
tel: 617.246.0130
fax: 617.246.0157 RS-232, T1221 and R1221 transmitters. 902-928MHz,
no FCC license required. Data rates to 64k-baud. >100m range. Power
35mA@3VDC, Antenna is 60cm RG174 coax. Price: $550 ea.
_Monicor Electronics _
Fort Lauderdale, FL
tel: 305.979.1907
fax: 305.979.2611 System 310 two-card OEM set for use in palmtops
and handheld computing. System 310 board set transmits at 1mW to 2W
for a range of 3 to 3km range. Priced at $660 in quantity. Model
IC-15-48 - rugged RS232 4800 baud modem. Can network a number of
these portables. $1630.
_Motorola Radio-Telephone Systems Group _
Arlington Heights, ILL
tel: 708.632.5000 AltairNet: 18GHz-based system design for wireless,
indoors networking. The boxes are fairly large, about the size of a
shoebox, and are relocatable but not portable. Problem is that is
that they really aren't for mobile applications. The reception area
has holes like swiss cheese. Not a problem with some fine adjustment
in stationary applications but a big problem for mobile devices.
_Pacific Crest Corporation_
1190 Miraloma ay, Suite W
Sunnyvale, CA 94086-4607
tel: 408.730.5789
tel: 800.795.1001
fax: 408.730.5640 DDR-96 and RDDR-96 Radio modems. To 9600 baud. 2W.
Point-to-point communcations. Uses standard RS-232 9pin DB style
connectors. Can also be used in packet switching networks. Forward
error correction techniques and PLL synchronization. The RDDR is a
ruggedized version. Cost is about $1100 and $1230 respectively. FCC
license required.
_Proxim, Inc. _
Mountain View, CA,
tel: 800-229-1630 Proxlink XR, spread spectrum, smart wireless
modem, up to 256 Kbps, 902MHz, 500mW, 800 ft range. _Scientific
Technologies_
31069 Genstar Road
Hayward, CA 94544 SpectraData 551 radio data link. Spread spectrum.
Range to 1.5miles (repeater for longer distances) RS232 to
38.4Kbaud. (900MHz or 2.4GHz).
_______________________________________________________________
A number of articles have also been posted about the modification of
inexpensive walkie-talkies for wireless communication. Typical
bandwidths are limited to about 1200 baud. This may be sufficient
for simple command-level control of a mobile mechanism. See the
robotics Archives.
_______________________________________________________________
[10.4.2] RF Video
For regular frame rate video over relatively short distances it's
hard to beat the price and availability of several consumer products
in the $100 range. Check local stores or place like the Sharper
Image (Gemini Rabbit is one of the companies making these units)
Microwave systems require line-of-site communication, licensing, and
are expensive.
_______________________________________________________________
[10.4.3] RF Ethernet
_Aironet Wireless Communications_
367 Ghent Road, Suite 300
Akron, OH 44334-0292
tel: 216.665.7900
fax: 216.665.7922 ARLAN series of wireless products. Aironet has the
largest installed base of spread spectrum radios (>200,000) Up to
1Mbps at 900MHz and 2Mbps at 2.4Ghz. Ethernet and Token rings access
points (630 and 631 series), wireless multipoint bridges (640 series
ARLAN products), wireless network adapter cards, PCMCIA cards and
numerous software and network management tools.
They are distributed through Anixter. For local Anixter offices call
708.677.2600. We've used a number of the ARLAN products for years at
CMU and it's been plug and play.
_Proxim Inc. _
295 North Barnardo Ave.
Mountain View, CA 94043
tel: 415.960.1630
fax: 415.964.5181 A product announcement for wireless LAN board on
p.68 in May/92 Byte Magazine Price: $495, Range: 800 ft. Data Rate:
242 Kbps Channels: 3
_Digital Ocean_
Lenexa, KN
tel: 913.888.3380
Grouper wireless networks. Spread-spectrum (no FCC license)
902-928MHz. Several products for Macintosh computer.
_______________________________________________________________
[10.5] Robot Parts: Suppliers and Sources
Many inquiries on comp.robotics are of the form: Where can I find X?
where X might be motors, gears, fasteners, connectors etc. The
following companies carry a wide selection of electronics and
mechanical parts. With the possible exception of computing these
companies should have all you need to build robot mechanisms.
Also see the file regularly posted to sci.electronics and a number
of the radio newsgroups:
[68]ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/sci.electronics/ Roger Arrick also
has a web page listing supplies of gears, bearings and parts at:
[69]http://www.robotics.com/mechpart
_All Electronics Corporation_
P.O. Box 567
Van Nuys, CA 91408
tel: 800.826.5432 Electronics parts.
_Allied Devices_
2365 Milburn Avenue,
PO Box 502
Bladwin, NY 11510
tel: 516.223.9100
fax: 516.223.9172 Standard precision mechanical components
_American Science and Surplus_
3605 Howard St.
Skokie, IL 60076
tel: 708.982.0870
fax: 800.934.0722
These guys are a good source for motors, steppers, wire, and lots of
gears, pulleys, etc. stuff for robot people to roll their own robots
as well.
_Arrick Robotics_
2107 W. Euless Blvd.
Euless, Texas 76040 USA
tel: 817.571.4528
fax: 817.571.2317
net: rarrick@ix.netcom.com Arrick makes a number of automation
system including stepper motor systems, positioning tables and
robotic workcells.
_C&H Sales_
2176 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA
tel: 818.796.2628
tel: 800.325.9465 Surplus parts. Motors etc.
_Digi-Key Corp_
701 Brooks Avenue South
P.O. Box 677
Thief River Falls, MN 56701-0677
tel: 800.344.4539 Distributor of electronics components and
semiconductors.
_Edmund Scientific _
101 E. Gloucester Pike
Barrington, NJ 08007-1380
tel: 609.573.6250 order
tel: 609.573.6260 customer service Lots of optics, science and
educational items. A little pricey but nice selection. Edmund also
has a Robotic Technology Curriculum with lessons and tests featuring
the Movit robots. Curriculum is $65.
_Electronic Goldmine _
PO Box 5408
Scottsdale, AZ 85261
tel: 602.451.7454 Sell the ROAMR Robot Kit - $39.95 Lots of
electronics and small mechanics.
_Fascinating Electronics _
P.O. Box 126
Beaverton, OR 97075
tel: 503.292.5233 Experimenter's kits and other electronics.
_Graymark _
Box 5020
Santa Ana, CA 92704
tel: 800.854.7393 Robot and electonics kits, tools and instruments.
_Herbach and Rademan Co. _
18 Canal St.
P.O. Box 122
Bristol, PA 19007-0122
tel: 800.848.8001 (orders)
tel: 215.788.5583 (office)
fax: 215.788.9577 (fax) Electro-mechanical "surplus" parts,
equipment and insturments.
_Hosfelt Electronics_
Ohio?
_JDR Microdevices _
1850 South 10th St
San Jose, CA 95112-9941
tel: 408.494.1400, 800.538.5000
fax: 800.538.5005
bbs: 408.494.1430 Surplus and lots of electronic components
including cameras and some sensors. Some recent components have
included: TV transmitter (part # RK-TV6, $19.95 US) transmits
composite video + audio to any television set withing 600' on one of
channels 2 - 6. Runs on 12VDC.
Microwave doppler radar sensor. Claims to detect a person or animal
up to 12' away (part number RK-MD3, $19.95 w/o case. Claims to come
with complete circuit theory and instructions.
_Marlin P. Jones _
tel: 407.848.8236 Lots of neat surplus stuff.
_McMaster-Carr Supply Company _
PO box 440
New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0440
tel: 908.329.3200
fax: 908.329.3772 An amazing catalog of hundreds of thousands of
parts. Lots of mechanical things but not much for electronics or
computing.
_MECI _
tel: 800.344.4465
_Mendelson Electronics Co., Inc _
tel: 800.422.3525
_Newark Electronics _
500 N. Pulaski St.
Chicago, IL 60624-1019
tel: 312.784.5100 (check locally) Major distributor of electronics
components and equipment (1200+ pages) with branches throughout the
US.
_Nordex _
50 Newton Road
Danbury, CT 06810-6216
tel: 203.792.9050 Gears, cams, universals etc.
_PIC Design _
PO Box 1004
Benson Road
Middlebury, CT 06762-1004
tel: 800.243.6125 (except CT)
tel: 203.758.8272 Bearings, clutches, brakes, couplings, tools,
belts, pulleys, gears etc.
_Radio Shack _
Electronic parts and kits. Local retail stores in just about every
city)
_SECS, Inc. _
520 Homestead Avenue
Mt. Vernon, NY 10550
tel: 914.667.5600 Gears and gear assemblies, belt drives, couplings,
bearings, small parts.
_Seitz Corporation_
Box 1398
Torrington, CT 06790
tel: 800.261.2011
tel: 203.489.0696
tel: 203.489.0476
fax: 203.496.0307 Drive components, gears etc.
_Servo Systems _
115 Main Road
PO Box 97
Montville, NJ 07045-9299
tel: 201.335.1007
fax: 201.335.1661 Surplus pieces and prices, motors, actuators,
geardrives, controllers, robots, encoders, transducers, amplifiers.
_Small Parts Inc. _
6891 NE Third Ave
PO Box 381966
Miami, FL 33238-1966
tel: 305.557.8222
fax: 305.751.6217 Lots of neat small supplies including: materials,
metal stock, fasteners, tools etc. This company is the "misc parts"
supplier to the "U.S. FIRST" competetion where corporations and HS
Students form partnerships to build competing robots like Dr
Flowers' ME class at MIT.
_Stock Drive Products _
2101 Jericho Turnpike
Bobx 5416
New Hyde Park, NY 11042-5416
tel: 516.328.3300
fax: 516.326.8827 Great set of handbooks of thousands of components.
_Surplus Center_
Lincoln, Nebraska
tel: 800.488.3407 They're good on medium to large scle stuff,
hydraulics and pneumatics. They seem to supply agricultural machine
prototypers. _Winfred M. Berg _
499 Ocean Ave.,
East Rockaway, LI, NY 11518
tel: 516.599.5010 Precision Mechanical Components
Any technical library should have catalogs from the larger
distributors. These include McMaster-Carr, Grainger, Allied, Newark,
etc.
_______________________________________________________________
Last-Modified: Tue Sep 10 12:29:26 1996 [70]Kevin Dowling
<nivek@cmu.edu>
References
1. file://localhost/usr/nivek/faq/HTML/copyright.html
2. file://localhost/usr/nivek/faq/HTML/TOC.html
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61. ftp://ftp.armory.com/pub/user/rstevew/
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63. http://www.teleport.com/~image
64. http://teleos.com/
65. http://teleos.com/
--
aka: Kevin Dowling, <nivek+@cmu.edu> address: Carnegie Mellon University
tel: 1.412.268.8830 The Robotics Institute
fax: 1.412.268.5895 5000 Forbes Avenue
url: http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/~nivek Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA
--
aka: Kevin Dowling, <nivek+@cmu.edu> address: Carnegie Mellon University
tel: 1.412.268.8830 The Robotics Institute
fax: 1.412.268.5895 5000 Forbes Avenue
url: http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/~nivek Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA
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