I am looking into adding obstacle detection ability to my hexapod and I wanted to know what type of sensor would be a better choice based on your experience? IR or Ultrasonic? Since I am using a pan&tilt, I just want to use one sensor.
From my own research, I’ve found Ultrasonic is a better choice and the Maxbotix MaxSonar-EZx series are a good choice. This brings us to my second question: which of the series would be a more appropriate choice given that I would like to detect obstacles and navigate around them in an indoor environment.
I first installed a an SRF08 ultrasonic range on my little Loki biped in preparation to writing navigation code. Long story short, I got the sensor working. Then I started writing code to use it. No problem sense something, back off. But what about turning? With just one sensor, and not panning, you can’t tell which way to turn. So it seems to me the IR detectors (2) are possibly a better solution. They do have a “blind spot” near the 'bot, so plan for that. I now have a pair of the Sharp GP2D12 sensors implemented, and I’m reading them with the A/D. As a bonus, I can read the pot and thermistor on my quick flash board. I don’t have the “turning” code implemented yet, but now that the sensors are mounted a slight angles to the center line, I’m ready to tackle that.
