Greetings! I have a project in its nascent stages and I’d love input from minds more experienced than mine.
Context:
I am a programmer, but have little experience with robotics. I have acquired a beat-up old car I intend to take down some dirt roads out in Utah. These roads can have rocks capable of busting valuable parts underneath the vehicle. Merely watching out for these obstacles is not wholly reliable. I’d like to integrate a system onto the car that detects objects that are tall enough to pose a threat to the car’s oil-pan or axels. Ideally, detection can take place over two stages: 1) as car approaches an obstacle; 2) a back-up system: as the object passes under the very-front of the car.
I was thinking a combination of a Maxbotix sonar and LIDAR laser rangefinder (or something along these lines); perhaps the former could detect objects the car is approaching, the latter could be used to detect objects that are passing under the car that are too close to critical vehicle areas.
Thoughts?