An optical range sensor for mobile robot guidance

The development of a large field-of-view laser scanning sensor, based on the later-effect photodiode, for short range mobile robot maneuvers such as obstacle avoidance and docking is described. Synchronous detection is used to approach the theoretical limit of sensor performance. Results are only 82% above this limit, allowing extension of the use of lateral effect photodiodes over longer ranges than have been used traditionally, while maintaining class II eye safety in the sensor. The sensor characterization developed is used to provide data for a discontinuity detection algorithm based on the extended Kalman filter