Uses for Surplus Scanners

I am seeing more and more surplus scanners showing up in surplus channels.

Any suggestions for robotics usage?

In particular, I am thinking of the linear CCD sensor...any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

TMT

Mount one under your rover and create an endless image of the floor ;-) . This is the equivalent to what the spy planes do when cruising. Maybe you find a miniature nuclear power plant between the panels of your hardwood floor. Or you could use it as an ultra large scanner: put something movie poster size on the ground and let your robot drive over it until you have the perfect 600dpi scan.

What about using it as an odometer. Sure you can plug a wheel encoder to your wheels, but you always have errors due to tire slipping. Uses the same concept as optical mouses, I just don't know problematic focusing and sampling speed would be.

Mount it vertically and spin the robot to create a panoramic image :-)

Mount it vertically and rotate it- and mount paint jets on the opposite side. Have it scan you and airbrush your image on the opposite wall.

Cheers!

Sir Charles W. Shults III, K. B. B. Xenotech Research

"Padu" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@iswest.net:

Take two of them and build a 2 diminsional milling machine, or plotter. Take three of them and build a 3D milling machine.

Joe

Your mirror image, at that.

-Brian

The Ultimate Line Follower...

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No, not at all- think about it. Rotated, not run linearly.

Cheers!

Sir Charles W. Shults III, K. B. B. Xenotech Research

Indeed. I must have put my brain in backwards this morning. :-)

-Brian

Put them in a dark box, let light in with a prism casting a spectrum across the linear ccd to do spectroscopy. You could get your robot to follow a laser pointer light spot, or a light bulb with a specific light signature.

Brent S.