Cheap obstacle sensor - with Arduino!

When I started with arduino, and electronics, I always wanted to do things the cheap way.


Nothing has changed.

Step 1 Parts

You will need:
- Infrared LED
- Infrared photodiode
- Arduino
- Wires of some sort
- Electrical tape, duct tape, even hot glue!
- Heat shrink
- Perhaps a breadboard for testing

Comments

[diy_bloke]

interesting.
Since the program seems to measure amount of light reflected, I presume the outcome also depends on reflection of the approaching object. Also as it is IR, a warm object wld probably give a different reading than a cold object. (I understand the code is only to test the functionality of yr sensor design)

Nevertheless an interesting set up

One wld be tempted to use the same sensor you constructed and send a pulse to the LED, measuring the time it took for that pulse to come back

[dunnos]

This is just a very crude sensor, one would just use it for obstacle detection in a cheap robot.

Interesting idea with the pulse but I don't know if that would be that easy... light travels at 300 000 m/s so the reading would be too fast for your average microcontroller.

If you try, make a picture :)

[diy_bloke]

:-) Did not want to critcize, I understand it is just a crude (but useful thing).
It is actually even worse. Light goes 300.000 Km/sec. I think I was being a bit too academic about it

[diy_bloke]

OK, on an academic level: modulating the outgoing light with a lower frequency and measuring the frequency shift :-)
Hmm, better to keep it simple :-)

[samwhiteUK]

Great intro!