optical flow idea

Other Hardware Sensors
1

I'm waiting for my wheel encoder to arrive, so before that comes, I can't implement my walking 2-wheel balancing car, but only let it stand.

there is another way to measure speed, though, by using optical flow. but optical flow sensors are pretty expensive, and even if I ordered them, they would arrive later than my encoders.

so I have an idea: to find some optical flow impl on android, hook up my android phone to my arduino car using bluetooth, then export the OF result from phone to arduino, effectively turning android phone into a big speed/displacement sensor

2

Every mouse has an optical flow sensor in it - perhaps someone's hacked one and documented it?

3

theoretically it's the same effect, but I guess the mouse sensor is limited to maybe 1 inch.

MarkT:
Every mouse has an optical flow sensor in it - perhaps someone's hacked one and documented it?

4

teddyyyy123:
theoretically it's the same effect, but I guess the mouse sensor is limited to maybe 1 inch.

Mouse sensors have been successfully used on quadcopters. The main concern with getting the sensor to work at greater than normal distances is using the correct optics.