Ultrasonic Distant Object Detector

The first sensor a robot usually gets fitted with is an obstacle detector. It may take three different forms, depending on the type of obstacle you want to detect and also — indeed, above all — on the distance at which you want detection to take place.

For close or very close obstacles, reflective IR sensors are most often used, an example of such a project appears elsewhere in this issue. These sensors are however limited to distances of a few mm to ten or so mm at most.