INTELLIGENT DIGITAL PROXIMITY SENSOR FOR ROBOTIC APPLICATIONS

INDUCTION PROXIMITY SWITCHES ARE USED COMMONLY AS PRESENCE DETECTORS. COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE DEVICES ARE ROBUST, INEXPENSIVE AND IMMUNE TO NOISY ELECTRICAL ENVIRONMENTS, WHILE GENERATING NEGLIGIBLE FREE-FIELD RADIATIVE POWER TO DISRUPT OTHER EQUIPMENT. THESE DEVICES ARE GENERALLY USED ONLY IN SWITCHING APPLICATIONS. THE PROPOSED DIGITAL PROXIMITY SENSOR EXTENDS THE CAPABILITY OF PRESENT DEVICES BY ADDITIONALLY SENSING TARGET RANGE AND MATERIAL COMPOSITION. FURTHERMORE, BY UTILIZING A DIGITAL, RATHER THAN ANALOG APPROACH TO DEVICE OPERATION, THE USEFUL RANGE IS ALSO EXTENDED. THIS ENABLES THE DEVICE TO BE SMALLER FORA GIVEN RANGE. INCORPORATING AN INTELLIGENT PROCESSOR WITHIN THE UNIT ALLOWS DIAGNOSTICS AT THE SENSOR, TARGET ANDAPPLICATION LEVELS. BY DESIGNING APPROPRIATE TARGETS WITH DIFFERENT MATERIALS, TARGET IDENTIFICATION IS ALSO POSSIBLE. COMBINATIONS OF SENSOR ELEMENTS ENABLE THREE DIMENSIONAL MEASUREMENTS, INCLUDING ROTATION. THESE IMPROVEMENTS ARE BENEFICIAL TO THE POSITIONING AND CONTROL OF REMOTE ROBOT ARMS. THE DIGITAL PROXIMITY SENSOR IS APPLICABLE TO INTERNAL USE WITHIN THE ROBOT, OR EXTERNALLY, TO SENSE ALIGNMENT OF ROBOTIC OPERATIONS.