Seeking Affordable Color Sensor Array
Keith Young
Posts: 569
Hey all,
We've successfully gotten a few ColorPALs mounted under an ActivityBot and gotten the robot to follow colored lines. However we'd really like to fine a way to affordably get more data points so we can get into PID etc.
Do you guys know of a color sensor array that could theoretically fit on the ActivityBot axle line and get say 5+ color points, for a reasonable price?
I know we can find a way to add a Raspberry Pi and camera and all that jazz, but I really prefer to keep this as simple as possible.
Even if it's a bunch of individual sensors etc. The problem is the closest pitch I can get with the ColorPAL is 23mm. If we can get a pitch of 10mm or less I think it would open up more possibilities for this robot.
Thanks!
Keith
We've successfully gotten a few ColorPALs mounted under an ActivityBot and gotten the robot to follow colored lines. However we'd really like to fine a way to affordably get more data points so we can get into PID etc.
Do you guys know of a color sensor array that could theoretically fit on the ActivityBot axle line and get say 5+ color points, for a reasonable price?
I know we can find a way to add a Raspberry Pi and camera and all that jazz, but I really prefer to keep this as simple as possible.
Even if it's a bunch of individual sensors etc. The problem is the closest pitch I can get with the ColorPAL is 23mm. If we can get a pitch of 10mm or less I think it would open up more possibilities for this robot.
Thanks!
Keith
Comments
There is the PIXY CMUcam5.
cmucam.org/projects/cmucam5
charmedlabs.com/default/pixy-cmucam5/
It's not inexpensive. It's pretty powerful, but it is somewhat complicated to use. Unlike the ColorPal it does not have a self illuminating white LED, so it needs to see a lit area. It is also sensitive to brightness changes (or at least the older firmware version I'm using is.)
It does have a number of interfacing modes (ADC for 1 color object; UART, SPI, and I2C for multiple colors and objects). It does report a color number (user defined), x and y position of each color object, and x and y dimension of the rectangle covering the object.
I have written some software for the activityBot in prop C. See here for my adventure:
forums.parallax.com/discussion/155501/pixy-for-propeller
Also some comments here:
forums.parallax.com/discussion/165137/cmucam-pixy
Tom