collision sensor

[jag27]

how prevalent is the use of collision sensors

 

[automatic2]

probably not as much in demand as avoidance systems.

 

[IRstuff]

Depends on the context, probably. Collision sensing is used in video games extensively, both in the game play as well as in the polygon generation process.


So if you factor the number of people playing those games and the number of polygons processed per day, it may well exceed any usage of TCAS and other avoidance systems.

TTFN

 

[IRstuff]

There are also some contextual obfuscations, since many robotic devices base their steering on object location, so collision avoidance is inherent in the steering algorithm.

TTFN

 

[Al21]

Avoidance is allways the best solution when possible.

When you don't find a fast avoidance solution a monitoring strategy can help right away to protect the machine or robot from damage.

A highly sensitiv force sensor reacts in 1-2 ms to stop the robot.
There is a force sensor on the market which can measure a .001 mikron bending from the machine.

I can give you some detail information when you like.

 

[rdl23]

I would say about 1/3 to 1/2 of the industrial robots have some kind of collision sensor. The most prominent is software on the robot reading the current in the servo motors. The software looks for current signature that indicates a crash and stops the robot. Most of the large robots have this software.

There are mechanical devices that comply with the crash while sending a signal back to the robot. See

http://www.ati-ia.com

for a device that our company sells for collision sensing.

We also sell a force sensor, but not for collision sensing since this an expensive solution and has no compliance. Robots cannot stop fast enough, so they can damage force sensors with no compliance.

One other note, anyone who programs robots will have a collision—it is just part of the programming process.