@maltheim wrote:
Hi, I’m writing to ask about the feasibility of the following idea…
I have a wheeled robot that has a 3mm delrin plastic platform whose underside is 95mm from the ground. I’m considering mounting a PMW9301 Optical Flow Sensor on some short standoffs underneath the platform, aiming at the ground. I’d likely include a few white LEDs to illuminate the floor.
The PMW9301 claims a minimum distance of ~88mm, so with the sensor about 90-93mm from the ground we’d be close to the minimum distance. The robot will be running over typical home floor surfaces, rugs, wood, etc. so there should be enough detail to capture movement.
I looked into the Python library and there doesn’t seem to be any way to set distance, so I’m guessing one just calibrates x and y to distance within our own software. No problem there.
Some questions:
- how much of the camera needs to be able to see the ground? Because it would be mounted under the robot, the camera’s view of the ground would partially be occluded by the robot’s frame, maybe 1/3 of the view would see a fixed aluminium chassis. Does the camera have to entirely see moving image? Would this be an issue?
- with the camera at about 90-92mm from the ground, will it still operate very well, or are we really at the limit of its function?
- overall, is this idea feasible?
Thanks very much for your help!
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