I'm trying to figure out what sensor I should use to read the distance to three fixed points in a set area so that I can triangulate the location of a moving platform.
The idea is that I would be working in a fixed area, and the reading of the sensor will be able to tell me where I am within the fixed area at any given time, with relatively good accuracy. Ideally the fixed points would be able to be measured in the dark, with possible line of sight interruptions.
Everything I'm seeing is just measuring to the closest object and not a fixed point. I understand I may need to send info from the fixed point back to the platform, I'm just not sure how to make the sensors "Lock on" to a specific point.
buldar:
I'm trying to figure out what sensor I should use to read the distance to three fixed points in a set area so that I can triangulate the location of a moving platform.
The idea is that I would be working in a fixed area, and the reading of the sensor will be able to tell me where I am within the fixed area at any given time, with relatively good accuracy. Ideally the fixed points would be able to be measured in the dark, with possible line of sight interruptions.
Everything I'm seeing is just measuring to the closest object and not a fixed point. I understand I may need to send info from the fixed point back to the platform, I'm just not sure how to make the sensors "Lock on" to a specific point.
Thanks for the help in advance.
Begin by telling us HOW you do it without a "sensor" and a computer. That will give you big clues as to what sensor to use.
Paul
In response to what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm trying to make an autonomous platform for moving Theatrical scenery on a stage. I need fairly good accuracy so that it will be in the correct place for lights and actor movement.
My thought, although I may be simplifying things, is that if I can make 4 points that the platform can reference (4 for redundancy in case one signal is interrupted) distance to, then it could triangulate it's position on the stage and know where it is.
My possible first idea is that I might be able to send a pulse from the 4 points to the platform with say an ultrasonic emitter, along with a wireless or Bluetooth time code of when it sent the pulse. I could then find the distance by calculation of the time the signal took to reach the receiver on the platform. I understand this could add some delay, but am not expecting the platform to move fast at all.
I'll also be using a stored sequence of movement commands to follow but would like some additional assurance that I'm hitting the right mark, as what I've read is that sequencing alone is not very accurate.
I'm only moderately experienced in this type of robotic operation, so I'm trying to asses the feasibility of the idea before I buy a bunch of parts that won't work.
Using fiducials and TensorFLow, the project is doable. Once the Tensor has been trained, a camera system, mounted on the robot, can be used to track the robots position relative to the fiducials and navigate its way around the room.
TensorFLow lite has a library for the 32bit flavors of the Arduino line, Nano 33 and a TensflowLite library for the ESP32.
Automotive grade multi beam LIDAR units will allow a robot to navigate a room; such as the Livox Horizon or Tele-15 or even one of those Velodyne solid state LIDAR's
The traditional solution is placing wires in the floor (or lines drawn on the floor), and have your robots follow those paths. This really works, complete container port operations work(ed) using this principle.
You could combine this with distance sensing (encoder in a wheel) to tell roughly how far along the line you are. Likely accurate enough to find the place to stop on the stage, and when the piece has done its function it just continues to follow the line until it's off the stage.