ROBOTICS

124 SEPTEMBER 2007 ELECTRONI CS FOR YOU WWW. E F Y MA G . C O M

S. MURALI KRISHNA
SENSORS FOR ROBOTS
Sensors bring human touch to robots. Here is how
S
ensors collect useful information
as engineering parameters about
the internal state of robots.
These are also used to communicate
with the outside world.
The robot controller needs to know
instantaneously or periodically where
Mr DD robot playing with ball
each link of the robot is in order to
know the robots configuration. Sen-
sors, which are part of the robot, send
information about each joint or link to
the controller, which determines the
configuration of the robot. Also, exter-
nal sensory devices like vision system,
touch and tactile sensorsthat are part
of robotsenable them to communi-
cate with the outside world.
Similar to neurons in the human
body muscles that send signals to the
brain to let it determine the state of a
muscle, in a robot, as the links and
joints move, sensors such as potenti-
ometers, encoders and resolvers send
signals to the microcontroller that al-
low it to determine where each joint
is. Also, some more sensors similar in
function to that of humans are used in
robots for vision, touch and smell.
For harsh environments like
nuclear zones, a radioactive sensor is
an example of a complex sensor that
the human body does not have. Apart
from these, a few advanced sensors
find application in robotics and manu-
facturing as engineering solutions.
Sensors for internal
feedback control
Basic sensors useful for robotics,
mechatronics and automation are dis-
cussed below.
Position sensors. These are used
to measure displacements (both rotary
and linear) as well as movements. In
many cases, such as encoders, the po-
sition information may also be used
to calculate velocities. Position sensors
could be either contact-type or non-
contact-type. Under non-contact-type
magnetic pickup, optical encoders are
the examples.
In a simple potentiometer acting as
voltage divider, the output will be de-
pendent to the resistance as:
where R1 defines the contact position.
Encoder. It is a simple device that
can output a digital signal for each
small portion of a movement. There
are basically two different types of
encoders, namely, incremental and
absolute encoders.
LVDT. It is actually a transformer
V
out
= V
cc

R1
R2
ROBOTICS
126 SEPTEMBER 2007 ELECTRONI CS FOR YOU WWW. E F Y MA G . C O M
where the core moves along the dis-
tance being measured and outputs a
variable analogue voltage as a result
of this displacement. The output of an
LVDT is linearly proportional to the
input position of the core. The output
voltage is proportional to the displace-
ment of the core from the centre. This
is shown in Fig. 1.
Resolvers. These are similar to
LVDTs in principle but are used to
measure an angular motion (typically,
a tank gun rotation). A resolver is also
a transformer where the primary coil
is connected to the rotating
shaft and carries an AC
through slip rings. There
are two sending coils
placed 90 degrees apart
from each other. The coils
develop a voltage propor-
tional to sine and cosine of
the angle between primary
and two secondary coils as
shown in Fig. 2. Resolvers are reli-
able, robust and accurate.
Velocity sensors. When a posi-
tion signal is differentiated, it con-
verts into velocity signal. Differen-
tiation of a signal is always noisy
and should be done carefully. A
simple R-C circuit with an op-amp
(R as feedback and C to couple
position signal at inverted end) de-
livers the velocity signal as output
(Vout= RC.dv/dt).
Acceleration sensor. Acceler-
ometers measure accelerations.
These are not used in robots but
recently acceleration measurements
have been used for high-precision
control of linear actuators and for
joint feedback control of robots.
Force and pressure sensors. It is a
polymer thick-film device that executes
a decreasing resistance with increas-
ing force applied normal to its surface.
For example, with a changing force of
10 to 10000 grams, its resistance
changes from about 500 kilo-ohms to
1 kilo-ohm.
Torque sensors. A pair of strategi-
cally placed force sensors can be used
for torque measurement. Two force
sensors are placed on a shaft oppo-
site to each other on opposite sides.
If a torque is applied to the shaft,
it generates two opposing forces
on the shafts body causing opposite-
direction strains. The two force sen-
sors can measure the forces, which
can be converted into a torque as
shown in Fig. 3.
Micro switches. Micro switches are
simple, robust, inexpensive and com-
mon in robotics. These cut off electri-
cal current through a conductor and
thus can be used for safety purposes,
detecting contact, sending signals
based on displacements, etc.
Sensors for interaction
with the outside world
Given below is the basic operating
principle of some of the sensors de-
ployed for interaction with external
sources or target locations. CCD sen-
sors, thermal imaging sensors, radio-
frequency (RF) and microwave sensors
are not covered here.
Light and infrared sensors. The
electrical resistance of these sensors
changes when light is projected on
them. They exhibit low resistance for
higher intensity of light.
A phototransistor turns a device
on/off when light falls on its win-
dow.
A light sensor array can be used
with a moving light source to mea-
sure displacements/small movements
in robots and other machinery.
Infrared (IR) sensors are sensitive
to infrared range. Since IR is invisible
to human eyes, it will not disturb hu-
mans if used in devices that project
the light out. If a device needs light to
measure a large distance for naviga-
tion purpose, IR can be used without
attracting attention or disturbing any-
one. IR remote controls can be used to
establish remote control between de-
vices and robots.
Touch and tactile sensors. Touch
sensors send a signal when physical
contact is made. Micro switch is the
simplest touch sensor which either
turns on or off as contact is made. A
force sensor used as a touch sensor
may not only send touch information
but also report the magnitude of touch-
ing forces. A tactile sensor is a collec-
tion of touch sensors that, in addition
Fig. 1: Linear variable differential transformer (LVDT)
Fig. 2: Schematic of a resolver
Fig. 3: Arrangement of three pairs of strain gauges
along the three major axes for force and torque
measurements
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128 SEPTEMBER 2007 ELECTRONI CS FOR YOU WWW. E F Y MA G . C O M
to determining contact, can provide in-
formation about the subject.
Touch sensors are, in fact, displace-
ment sensors. Therefore other types
of displacement sensors (micro
switches, LVDTs, pressure sensors,
magnetic sensors, etc) may be used for
this purpose.
As the tactile sensor comes in con-
tact with an object, depending on the
shape and size of the object, different
touch sensors react differently in dif-
ferent sequences. This information is
then used by the controller to deter-
mine the size and shape of the object.
Figs 4(a) and 4(b) show such sensors.
A continuous skin-like tactile sen-
sor that can perform like human skin
is shown in Fig. 4(c). It comprises
a matrix of sensors that are embed-
ded between
two polymer
layers separated
by an isolator
mesh.
Pr oxi mi t y
sensors. A prox-
imity sensor de-
termines that an
object is close to
another object
before contact is
made. This non-
contact sensing
can be useful in
situations rang-
ing from mea-
suring the
speed of a rotor
to navigating a
robot. Different
types of prox-
imity sensors
including mag-
netic, eddy cur-
rent and Hall ef-
fect, optical, ultrasonic, in-
ductive and capacitive are
used in robots.
Sniff sensors. Similar to
smoke detectors, these are
sensitive to particular gases
and send a signal when
they detect those gases.
Sniff sensors are used for
safety as well as search and
detection purposes.
Voice recognition devices. When a
voice recognition system recognises a
word, it sends a signal to the control-
ler, which, in turn, runs the robots to
the desired location and orientation. It
is particularly useful for robots used
to aid the disabled as well as for medi-
cal robots.
Voice recognition involves what is
said and taking an action based on the
perceived information. The voice rec-
ognition system generally works on
the frequency content of spoken
words. Any signal may be decom-
posed into a series of sines and co-
sines at different frequencies at differ-
ent amplitudes that will reconstruct the
original signal if combined.
Voice synthesisers are accom-
plished in two ways. One is to recre-
ate the words by combining phonemes
and vowels. Here each word is recre-
ated when the phonemes and vowels
are combined. Another way is to
record the words that the system may
need to synthesise and access them
from memory or tape as needed. Stan-
dard telephone time announcements,
video games and many machine voices
are prerecorded and accessed as
needed.
Range finders. Light-based (laser)
range finders measure the distance
from an object by three different meth-
ods, namely, direct time delay, indi-
rect amplitude modulation and trian-
gulation. For shorter distances encoun-
tered in navigations, triangulation is
the most accurate and gives the high-
est resolution results.
Nuclear sensors. Upon detection
of a nuclear burst/contamination of
atmosphere, based on input from
gamma sensor (responds to gamma
ray exposure in nanoseconds) and
dose rate from the GM probe (Figs 5
and 6), its intensity and place of oc-
currence (GPS data) can be transmit-
ted as data over wireless to alert the
situation control station. Similarly, a
chemical sensor responding to most
common chemical contaminations in
air and biological sensors can also be
hooked to the microcontroller-based
system to know the type of contami-
nation for taking preventive measures
in time.
Sensor characteristics
Resolution. It is the minimum step size
within the range of measurement of a
sensor. In a wire-wound potentiom-
eter, it will be equal to resistance of
one turn of wire. In digital devices
with n bits, resolution is full range/
2
n
. An absolute encoder with 8 bits
resolution can report position up to 2
8
=256 levels. Therefore its resolution is
360/256=1.56 degrees.
Sensitivity. It is defined as the
change in output response divided by
the change in input response. Highly
sensitive sensors show larger fluctua-
tions in output as a result of fluctua-
tions (including noise) in input.
Linearity. It represents the
relationship between input variations
Fig. 4: (a) Tactile sensors are generally a collection of simple touch
sensors arranged in an array or a matrix form with a specific order to relay
contact and shape information to the controller; (b) A tactile sensor can
provide information about the object; (c) Skinlike tactile sensor
Fig. 5: Gamma detection process
(a)
(b)
(c)
ROBOTICS
130 SEPTEMBER 2007 ELECTRONI CS FOR YOU WWW. E F Y MA G . C O M
and output variations. In a sensor with
linear output, any change in input at
any level within the range will pro-
duce the same change in output. When
the sensor is not linear, its linearity
range can be recorded, and where it
is non-linear it can be programmed
as in a displacement sensor (by speci-
fying the angle) whose output varies
with sine angle.
Range. It is the difference between
the smallest and the largest outputs
that a sensor can provide, or the dif-
ference between the smallest and larg-
est inputs with which it can operate
properly.
Response time. It is the time that a
sensors output requires to reach a cer-
tain percentage of total change. It is
also defined as the time required to
observe the change in output as a re-
sult of change in input; for example,
ordinary mercury thermometer re-
sponse time and digital thermometer
response time (one is slow and the
other is fast).
Frequency response. The frequency
response is the range in which the
systems ability to resonate (respond)
to the input remains relatively high.
The larger the range of frequency re-
sponse, the better the ability of the
system to respond to varying input.
Similarly, it is important to consider
the frequency response of a sensor
and determine whether the sensors
response is fast enough under all op-
erating conditions, in particular, mili-
tary, underwater and aerospace ap-
plications.
Reliability. It is the ratio between
the number of times a system oper-
ates properly and the number of times
it is tried. For continuous satisfactory
operation, it is necessary to choose re-
liable sensors that last long while con-
sidering the cost as well as other re-
quirements.
Accuracy. It shows how close the
output of the sensor is to the expected
value. For a given input, certain ex-
pected output value is related to how
close the sensors output value is to
this value. Inaccuracy can be predicted,
measured, corrected or compensated
generally.
Repeatability. It is a measure of
how varied the different outputs are
relative to each other. For the same in-
put if the output response is different
each time, then repeatability is poor.
Also, a specific range is desirable for
operational performance as the perfor-
mance of robots depends on sensors.
Repeatability is a random phenom-
enon and hence there is no compensa-
tion. The best way is to quality check
and choose the sensors to rule out the
basic sensor problem in the system in-
tegration.
Interfacing. Direct interfacing of
the sensor to the microcontroller/mi-
croprocessor is desirable while some
add-on circuit may be necessary in
certain special sensors. The type of
the sensor output (digital or analogue)
is equally important. An ADC is re-
quired for analogue output sensors;
for example, potentiometer output to
microcontroller.
Size, weight and volume. Size is a
critical consideration for joint displace-
ment sensors. When robots are used
as dynamic machines, weight of the
sensor is important. Volume or space
is also critical to micro robots and
mobile robots used for surveillance.
Cost is important especially when
quantity involved is large in the end
application.
The perfect match
Choice of sensors plays a vital role in
robotics design as their output is an
essential input to the processor con-
trolling the robot or its end use. There-
fore it is needless to emphasise that
the basic understanding of the sensor
characteristics, its matching with the
control system and proper utilisation
by the intelligent software built into
the robot are essential for a robotic
project to succeed.
Fig. 6: Roentgenometer cum GM probe