laser

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Hi all,

Since DanM posted his laser blog I was hooked to the idea of pulse driving laser diodes.

I have created my own pulsing hardware using an ATMega328 to generate a 62.5 ns pulse at 16 Mhz, driving the diode trough an ULN2803 (Toshiba made) which seems to be able to respond well to such short pulses. 

However the ULN2803 is limited in power output so the highest current I could sink is about 700mA (I know the ULN2803 is limited to 500mA yes) by parralelling outputs. At this level the ULN2803 is way over its limits and starts overheating.

Using an Arduino, I guess I would modulate (PWM) the laser module and have the photocell light sensor pick up the frequency. Would this work?

I've been making plan for an obstacle-avoiding robot, and was originally planning to use a Sharp IR range finder for it (10 - 80cm), but after seeing other sonar range finders, and other people's projects (the majority of the ones I see seem to use sonar), I was wondering:

Which is better: IR or sonar?

'Cos IR recievers can be affected by ambient IR light, and the best i;ve seen goes up to 150cm, whereas I;ve seen sonar ones up to 7.4m, roundabout, and they can't be affected by ambient sound (I think).

Straight out from Shoutbox I just snatched this:

gimmelotsarobots: On the bright side, mosquitos are now being killed by self guiding lasers. http://intellectualventureslab.com/?page_id=563

Searhced around, and found this cool video of death!

would it be possible to make a laser flicker at 38khz?

I was thinking; if I had a modified laser that gave me a red dot that pulsed at 38Khz. If a robot was made to go towards a 38Khz beacon...

I thought this might function as a intuitive remote control.

The robot is programmed to do whatever, map its surrounding, search for metal or filming the girls gymn locker room. But when the laser is pointed anywhere in its vicinity it'll start following the red dot until the laser is switched of again. then it will continioue its original task.

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum, and fairly new to robotics.  I'm currently considering working on a research project involving multiple robots mapping an environment (something simple, like a wooden maze) together.  For the mapping I would need a fairly reliable range sensor.  I would very, very much appreciate some advice from seasoned robotics veterans such as many of you on this site!

I am working on a much faster & stronger version of Robot Wall Racers, using quite fast RC-cars

I want to use lasers as distance sensors, but I think they will be a little over budget, altough this is a paid for job :)

Yes, SRF05's clai, they can detect a broomstick on 3 meters.. but in reality they are not stable before say 1.5 meters.

1.5 meters when you are traveling at 25km/h is NOT a lot, when you even are set up with drifting tyres.

in my robot SC-QR-1 i have allready used all 8 servo-ports.

but can i still ad a laser(to see where it looks), a speaker(for it to call hor help or showing some sound-emotions..   etc.) and some leds(like a red to show power, white/bright to help my "primary-back-mounted-not-night-vision-spy-camera") 

and if yes would the servos disturb the lasers, speaker and leds?

and i was also thinking, stuff like the sharp ir sensors have ir leds in them, could i attach an led or laser to those pins??

please reply!! :D