A Position Sensor with Laser Beam Scan which Detects 3-D Points Extracted by Image Differentiation Function

Abstract

This research deals with an active three-dimensional position sensor with laser beam. The sensor has a unique function of differentiation processing of a linear image to extract only the points to be detected at which luminous intensity changes. Since it is composed of a linear image sensor and a one-dimensional PSD, both with high resolution, it is designated to be of high speed and accuracy.
In the present paper, the structure of the sensor and the sensing mechanism with image processing are described and a signal processing circuit to improve the accuracy of position detection is considered. Finally, the sensor is installed as a vision to a manipulator, to detect points on a stair-shaped object.