Development of an Optical Distance Sensor for Robots

A description is given of the development of an optical distance sensor for robots. The surface of an object is illuminated by light coming through a pinhole, and the light reffected on the surface is guided into a photosensor array by another pinhole. Based on the position of the photosensor unit that detects a magnitude greater than that detected by any other unit, the distance between the surface and the sensor head is determined geometrically, without influence from circumferential illumination or other conditions of an object such as irregularity, reflectivity, and orientation. This sensor is quite powerful and should have a wide variety of practical uses. Both analytic and experimental results are presented.