EC603 - Embedded ROBOTIC

Chapter 2 SENSORS
AND ACTUATORS
Template

SENSORS
by
Husaini Aza Mohd Adam
husaini@ptsb.edu.my

EC 603 EMBEDDED ROBOTIC

General Objective.
SENSORS AND ACTUATORS

Outline.
sensor categories

Categorize sensors according to their output signals and applications.

Distinguish between types of sensors:

Internal and external sensors

Passive and active sensor
Understand sensor application
Identify sensors function and application:

a)

Binary sensor

b)
c)
d)

Analogue versus digital sensors

A/D converter
Gyroscope, accelerometer and inclinometer

EC603 - Embedded ROBOTIC

Chapter 2 SENSORS
AND ACTUATORS
Template
ACTUATORS IN ROBOTIC APPLICATION
by
Husaini Aza Mohd Adam
husaini@ptsb.edu.my

EC 603 EMBEDDED ROBOTIC

General Objective.
SENSORS AND ACTUATORS

Outline.
Type of actuators used in robotic application:
a. DC motor
b. Stepper motor
c. Servo motor
methods to control motor speed and direction in mobile robots:
a. H-Bridge
b. Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
Modify programming code for robotic arm system.

Sensors
What is important is to find the right sensor for
a particular application.
This involves;
the right measurement technique,
the right size and weight,
the right operating temperature range and
power consumption and
the right price range

Sensors
Data transfer from the sensor to the CPU can be either
CPU-initiated (polling) or sensor-initiated (via
interrupt).
CPU-initiated - the CPU has to keep checking whether the
sensor is ready by reading a status line in a loop.
Sensor-initiated - the sensor signals via an interrupt that
data is ready, and the CPU can react immediately to this
request.

CPU-initiated is much more time consuming than

the alternative of a sensor-initiated data transfer,
which requires the availability of an interrupt line.

Sensors

Sensors Categories
Data transfer from the sensor to the CPU can be either
CPU-initiated (polling) or sensor-initiated (via interrupt).
CPU-initiated - the CPU has to keep checking whether
the sensor is ready by reading a status line in a loop.
Sensor-initiated - the sensor signals via an interrupt
that data is ready, and the CPU can react immediately
to this request.
CPU-initiated is much more time consuming than the
alternative of a sensor-initiated data transfer, which
requires the availability of an interrupt line.

Sensors Categories
From a robots point of view, it is more
important to distinguish:

For mobile robot systems it is also

important to distinguish:

Local or on-board sensors

Internal or proprioceptive sensors

(sensors mounted on the robot)

Global sensors

(sensors monitoring the robots internal

state)

(sensors mounted outside the robot in its

environment and transmitting sensor
data back to the robot)

External sensors or Exteroceptive

(sensors monitoring the robots
environment)

A further distinction is between:

Passive sensors
(sensors that monitor the environment without disturbing it,
for example digital camera, gyroscope)

Active sensors
(sensors that stimulate the environment for their measurement,
for example sonar sensor, laser scanner, infrared sensor)

Sensors Categories
Internal

External

Local
Passive
battery sensor,
chip-temperature sensor,
shaft encoders,
accelerometer,
gyroscope,
inclinometer,
compass
Active
Passive
on-board camera

Active
sonar sensor,
infrared distance sensor,
laser scanner
Table - Sensor classification

Global
Passive

Active
Passive
overhead camera,
satellite GPS
Active
sonar (or other) global
positioning system

Sensor
There are a wide variety of sensors used in mobile
robots. Some sensors are used to measure simple
values like the internal temperature of a robots
electronics or the rotational speed of the motors.
Other, more sophisticated sensors can be used to
acquire information about the robots environment or
even to directly measure a robots global position. We
classify sensors using two important functional axes:
proprioceptive/exteroceptive and
passive/active.

 Proprioceptive sensors measure values internal to the

system (robot); for example, motor speed, wheel load,
robot arm joint angles, and battery voltage.
Exteroceptive sensors acquire information from the
robots environment; for example, distance
measurements, light intensity, and sound amplitude.
Hence, exteroceptive sensor measurements are
interpreted by the robot in order to extract meaningful
environmental features.

Active vs. Passive

1) Active sensors: Require an external source of
power (excitation voltage) that provides the
majority of the output power of the signal
2) Passive sensors: The output power is almost
entirely provided by the measured signal
without an excitation voltage

Active vs. Passive

Passive sensors measure ambient environment energy entering the
sensor. Examples of passive sensors include temperature probes,
microphones, and CCD or CMOS cameras.

Active sensors emit energy into the environment, and then measure
the environmental reaction. Because active sensors can manage
more controlled interactions with the environment, they often
achieve superior performance. However, active sensing includes
several risks: the outbound energy may affect the very
characteristics that the sensor is attempting to measure.
Furthermore, an active sensor may suffer from interference
between its signal and those beyond its control. For example,
signals emitted by other nearby robots, or similar sensors on the
same robot may influence the resulting measurements. Examples of
active sensors include wheel quadrature encoders, ultrasonic
sensors, and laser range finders.

Binary Sensor
The simplest type of sensors,
return a single bit of
information, either 0 or 1.
Example tactile sensor on a robot
using a micro switch.
Interfacing to a
microcontroller can be
achieved
very easily by using a digital
input either of the controller or
a latch.

Analog versus Digital Sensors

Is the signal discrete or continuous?
Digital sensors: The signal produced or
reflected by the sensor is binary
Analog sensors: The signal produced by
the sensor is continuous and proportional
to the measured

Analog versus Digital Sensors

sensors that produce analog output signals rather than digital
signals
This means an A/D converter (analog to digital converter) is
required to connect such a sensor to a microcontroller.

Analog versus Digital Sensors

Digital sensors on the other hand are usually more complex
than analog sensors and often also more accurate.
In some cases the same sensor is available in either analog or
digital form, where the latter one is the identical analog sensor
packaged with an A/D converter.
The output signal of digital sensors can have different forms. It
can be a parallel interface (for example 8 or 16 digital output
lines), a serial interface (for example following the RS232
standard) or a synchronous serial interface

Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Inclinometer

Accelerometer
Measuring the acceleration along one axis
Analog Devices ADXL05 (single axis, analog output)
Analog Devices ADXL202 (dual axis, PWM output)

Gyroscope
Measuring the rotational change of orientation about one axis
HiTec GY 130 Piezo Gyro (PWM input and output)

Inclinometer
Measuring the absolute orientation angle about one axis
Seika N3 (analog output)
Seika N3d (PWM output)
http://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2013/11/26/choosing-the-right-sensor/

ACCELEROMETERS

The suitability of accelerometers for mobile robot positioning was evaluated at the University of
Michigan. In this informal study it was found that there is a very poor signal-to-noise ratio at lower
accelerations (i.e., during low-speed turns). Accelerometers also suffer from extensive drift, and

they are sensitive to uneven grounds, because any disturbance from a perfectly horizontal position
will cause the sensor to detect the gravitational acceleration g. One low-cost inertial navigation
system aimed at overcoming the latter problem included a tilt sensor.
The tilt information provided by the tilt sensor was supplied to the accelerometer
to cancel the gravity component projecting on each axis of the accelerometer.
Nonetheless, the results obtained from the tilt-compensated system indicate a
position drift rate of 1 to 8 cm/s (0.4 to 3.1 in/s), depending on the frequency of

acceleration changes. This is an unacceptable error rate for most mobile robot
applications.

GYROSCOPES

Anyone who has ever ridden a bicycle has experienced (perhaps unknowingly)
an interesting characteristic of the mechanical gyroscope known as gyroscopic
precession. If the rider leans the bike over to the left around its own horizontal
axis, the front wheel responds by turning left around the vertical axis. The
effect is much more noticeable if the wheel is removed from the bike, and held
by both ends of its axle while rapidly spinning. If the person holding the wheel
attempts to yaw it left or right about the vertical axis, a surprisingly violent
reaction will be felt as the axle instead twists about the horizontal roll axis. This is
due to the angular momentum associated with a spinning flywheel, which
displaces the applied force by 90 degrees in the direction of spin.

GYROSCOPES

A gyroscope (from Greek gros, "circle" and skop, "to look")

is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation, based on the principles
of angular momentum.[1] Mechanical gyroscopes typically comprise a
spinning wheel or disc in which the axle is free to assume any orientation.
Although the orientation of the spin axis changes in response to an external
torque, the amount of change and the direction of the change is less and in a
different direction than it would be if the disk were not spinning. When
mounted in a gimbal (which minimizes external torque), the orientation of
the spin axis remains nearly fixed, regardless of the mounting platform's
motion.

GYROSCOPES

Gyroscope
Typical two-axis mechanical gyroscope
configuration

DC Motors
DC motors are widely used in robotics because of their small size
and high energy output. They are excellent for powering the drive
wheels of a mobile robot as well as powering other mechanical
assemblies.
Operating Voltage
If batteries are the source of power for the motor, low operating
voltages are desirable because fewer cells are needed to obtain the
specified voltage. However, the electronics to drive motors are
typically more efficient at higher voltages.
Typical DC motors may operate on as few as 1.5 volts or up to 100
volts or more. Roboticists often use motors that operate on 6, 12,
or 24 volts because most robots are battery powered, and batteries
are typically available with these values.

Stepper Motors
The shaft of a stepper motor moves between discrete
rotary positions typically
separated by a few degrees. Because of this precise
position controllability, stepper
motors are excellent for applications that require high
positioning accuracy.
Stepper motors are used in X-Y scanners, plotters, and
machine tools, fl oppy and
hard disk drive head positioning, computer printer
head positioning, and numerous
other applications.