Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1442859
14 | The Future of Robotics Texas Instruments Sensor technologies in robotics Sensor technologies in robots include force and torque sensors, touch sensors, 1D/2D infrared (IR) range finders, 3D time-of-flight LIDAR sensors, cameras, inertial measurement units (IMUs), GPS and others. CMOS mmWave radar sensors enable the accurate measurement of not only the distance of objects in their field of view but also the relative velocities of any obstacles. These sensing technologies all have advantages and drawbacks, as shown in Table 1. One important advantage that mmWave sensors have over vision- and LIDAR-based sensors is their immunity to environmental conditions such as rain, dust, smoke, fog or frost. Additionally, mmWave sensors can work in complete darkness or in the glare of direct sunlight. Mounted directly behind enclosure plastics without external lenses, apertures or sensor surfaces, the sensors are extremely rugged and can meet Table 1: Sensor technology comparison. Figure 1: Modern architecture makes extensive use of glass surfaces. Figure 2: Test setup for detecting glass walls Ingress Protection (IP) 69K standards. TI's mmWave sensors are also small, lightweight and produce designs that are three times smaller and half the weight of miniature LIDAR range finders. Detecting glass walls Figure 1 illustrates the use of glass walls and partitions in modern architecture and service robots that vacuum or mop floors, for example, need to sense these surfaces to prevent collisions. These elements have proved difficult to detect using camera- or IR-based sensors. But mmWave sensors can detect the presence of glass walls as well as materials behind them. To demonstrate this capability, we set up a simple experiment using the Texas Instruments (TI) IWR1443BOOST mmWave sensor evaluation module (EVM) with a pane of glass positioned 80cm away. We then placed a wall panel behind the glass at a distance of 140cm, as shown in Figure 2.