THIS PROGRAM IS ORGANIZED TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF A LOW COST, OPTICAL TRIANGULATION TECHNIQUE FOR SENSING THE RANGE OF OBSTACLES AND DEPRESSIONS IN THE PATH OF A MOBILE ROBOT.

THIS PROGRAM IS ORGANIZED TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF A LOW COST, OPTICAL TRIANGULATION TECHNIQUE FOR SENSING THE RANGE OF OBSTACLES AND DEPRESSIONS IN THE PATH OF A MOBILE ROBOT. THE PROPOSED APPROACH, WHICH IS LABLED RANGE DETERMINATION BY OPTICAL TRIANGULATION (RDOT), IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE A SMALL RANGEFINDING MODULE WHICH HAS NO MOVING PARTS. MULTIPLE MODULES CAN BE INTERFACED TO A STANDARD MICROCOMPUTER BUS FOR SENSING RANGE IN SEVERAL DIRECTIONS. EXPECTED ADVANTAGES INCLUDE LOW UNIT COST, FAST RESPONSE AND RELIABLE OPTERATION. THE IMPORTANT PHASE I OBJECTIVES ARE TO INVESTIGATE ANALOG AND DIGITAL DESIGN ALTERNATIVES AND TO SELECT A SINGLE APPROACH FOR PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION. PHASE I WORK IS ORGANIZED IN A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO SUPPORT ADVANCED PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IN PHASE II.