[sdiy] proximity detectors anyone ?

[harry bissell]

The D-Beam uses a modulated carrier, so it is much less sensitive to 
external
IR.  I bet full sunlight would kill it... but most musicians live under 
rocks and
it is no issue.

Immunity to "Beer" is more important

H^) harry

Michael Bacich wrote:
>
> On May 20, 2006, at 12:28 PM, Michael Ruberto wrote:
>
>> From the limited experience I've had working with pick-and-place 
>> robots I would not choose IR. Incandescent lighting will play merry 
>> havoc on IR detectors. I once made a pick-and-place machine start 
>> thowing parts across the room by getting too close with an 
>> incandescent worklight.
>>
>
> The Roland products which contain the so-called "D-Beam" seem to work 
> very well, regardless of the ambient lighting situation.  They use an 
> IR LED/detector pair.  They are, however, calibrated to be sensitive 
> only to reflected IR that's pretty close to the detector.  They don't 
> really notice anything that's more than about 20 inches away from the 
> detector.  I imagine that if you boosted the detector's sensitivity, 
> it might have problems with ambient light.  They're awful fun to play 
> with, though.
>
> I like your story about the revolting pick-and-place robots.  The evil 
> robots are going to conquer us one