Parameter

Sensor

Comments

Light

CDS cells

Multiple CDS cells placed about a robot, each given its own view to help identify bright and dark parts of the robot’s environment. Easy to implement.

Objects

Ultrasonic ranging

Good directional measurement of objects in beam path. Requires large amounts if power and the sensing angle is very narrow.

http://www.societyofrobots.com/sensors_sonar.shtml

IR Reflections

Good detection of objects at relatively low cost and low power consumption. Very wide angle sensing. Difficult to determine distance to object. However, advance models can be very accurate but relatively expensive.

http://www.societyofrobots.com/sensors_sharpirrange.shtml

Radar

Provides accuracy in distance and direction is dependent on device

Video camera

Allows for plotting of object around robot. Can be difficult to implement hardware/software and provide proper lighting for objects to be easily detected.

http://www.societyofrobots.com/programming_computer_vision_tutorial.shtml

Surface

Laser wheel encoders

Detect if wheel or leg is slipping on surface. Skip and skid information is sensed when tracking robot’s movement and position.

Location and Orientation

Odometry

Stores the movement of the robot so that its current position can be determined arithmetically. Fairly easy to implement but it can be difficult determining the exact position of the robot.

Compass

Returns current direction of robot. Useful for odometry to determine if robot is not going straight and to set the initial direction for movement. Very useful for helping a robot find a specific location or follow a preprogrammed route.

Ultrasonic Ranging

Used to triangulate the position of robot from objects round it. Can be difficult to implement and requires mechanism for moving ultrasonic transmitter and receiver around.

Radar

Can be used to identify positions of objects around the robot like ultrasonic ranging.

Heat

Thermal Imaging

Used to detect humans. Very sensitive with a very wide field of view