interesting stuff

Hi All,

I came across these "QTC pill" sensors which look interesting:

http://www.tep.org.uk/millennium_smart_qtc.html

You can buy them here:

http://www.mutr.co.uk/prodDetail.aspx?prodID ˜8

Actually the whole of the above site is worth exploring. They have carbon
fibre, polymorph, acrylic and lots of other stuff at reasonable prices.

Gordan McComb describes similar "home made" sensors to the "QTC pill" (in
his book "robot builders bonanza"), using antistatic foam and aluminium
foil.

Another interesting component is the Maxim MAX471. This is a chip for
measuring current flow. You could use these to measure the current used by
a servo. The harder the servo works (against a load) the more current it
will take. Use one for each leg of a walker and you should be able to see
how each leg is supporting the bot.

info on these is at:

http://pdfserv.maxim-ic.com/en/ds/MAX471-MAX472.pdf

I also came across a site in the UK that sells the hamamatsu sensor used
in the "laser target finder sensor" shown at:

http://www.philohome.com/sensors/lasersensor.htm
http://www.active-robots.com/products/sensors/sensors-hamamatsu.shtml

And my own work in progress is at:

http://www.xcprod.com/ROBOT


Regards
Sergio Masci

http://www.xcprod.com/titan/XCSB  - optimising PIC compiler
FREE for personal non-commercial use



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