range finder needed

[John Vanderlee]

Hi people,

Newbie here, I build prototypes for professors here at Vassar College. The Robotics division works with "predators" and "Preys" - basically preprogrammed wheeled robots where one tries to capture the other. The current request is for the Predator to be able to locate direction and distance of the prey ( never much more than 100ft) It's Ok to outfit the prey with a signaling device, but the real trick is for the predator to intercept this and calculate positon and distance.
Tried Infra red, but too much interference, laser is only straight line of sight. Any ideas??
JV

[Carl-NC]

Re: range finder needed

Arrayed sonar transducers, or swept laser. Infrared should work, but you would probably have to modulate the "prey" signal, in order to ignore interferers.

- Carl

[Sean Goddard]

Re: range finder needed

Tried rotating a 45 degree angled mirror on a hollow ring, and shining the laser up though it to give 360 degree scanning?

I know it's a little complicated, but it's an idea ;-)

[bbsailor]

Check out this web link

http://vr.isdale.com/vrTechReviews/MotionCapture_Links.html

bbsailor