Color Sensor Odometer

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1

Hi all,

I’m currently working on a rover project with some young engineers and we’re trying to come up with ways to build an odometer. One of the ideas was to attached an alternating white/black disk to the (12cm diameter) wheel and use this colour sensor to check the segments as they whiz past. I know this won’t be nearly as accurate as a proper odometer, but if we were manage to measure 1/8ths of the circumference of the wheel would be a good start. Does anyone know if that sensor is up to the job?

Any other ideas are much appreciated, we’re currently also looking at hacking an old optical mouse.

Cheers,
Tom

2

I know this is an old post, but I thought I’d throw in my two cents anyways.

Could you use some kind of clear and opaque disk instead of the black and white? Then you could use a light sensor/LDR and an LED, which would be really fast. This technique is used in printers etc. to keep track of how far the head has moved.

3

Cheers, pretty decent idea, would just need to come up with a mount that holds the sensor and LED over the disc. To the 3D printer! ;-)