Optical mouse as ground speed sensor

Comments

• Martin_H Posts: 4,051

  2012-10-19 06:20 edited 2012-10-19 06:20

  That is a cool idea. Using the lens allows the mouse sensor to sense movement far away and estimate the amount. I tried using the mouse sensor for odometery on the ground like this
  
  

  

  
  
  But my approach required ground contact which worked on a smooth table, but proved problematic on floors which are uneven. Using a lens would allow me to raise the sensor off the ground to solve this problem.

  

  

  Mouse Odometry.jpg

  1024 x 768 - 58K

  Mouse Odometry.jpg 58.4K
• vanmunch Posts: 568

  2012-10-19 10:05 edited 2012-10-19 10:05

  Here's at the bottom of the page is a video of 3D Robotics using the new one to control horizontal movement about 3 feet off the ground.
  
  https://pixhawk.ethz.ch/px4/modules/px4flow
• vanmunch Posts: 568

  2012-10-19 10:27 edited 2012-10-19 10:27

  Hey, if you're talking about building something from the ground up. What do you think of hacking Lytro's light field camera? Since the camera records the direction of each photon, I think that a person could extrapolate the realitive distance everything the camera "sees." It would be like a multiplane laser rangefinder/ video camera system in one!
  
  Hacking the camera is way, way above my level so I've just been waiting for someone else to do it, but I haven't heard of anyone even thinking about it. I've even posted the idea on their forum, but no response. I don't think the camera is selling very well (~$400) so I figure this could be its "killer app."
  
  If people are intrested, we can start a separate thread to talk about it more. And yes, I'll preorder one today Plus, I'm sure it's impossible
  
  Dave
  
  Light Field camera
  https://www.lytro.com/
  
  Forum post, add your vote to my question and they'll answer it. (weird way to do customer support, but oh well)
  http://support.lytro.com/entries/22206337-lytro-as-a-robotic-sensor