Sensor components of the six-legged walking machine LAURON II

This paper describes the sensing components of LAURON II. To manage the complex task of walking machine control several sensors are integrated in the control architecture of the robot. The most sophisticated sensor-system is the light weight stereo head of LAURON II. The head is designed as a universal platform to test, different kinds of sensors for obstacle detection. For example the construction allows to mount ultrasonic transducers or infrared-based distance sensors. Usually is it used with two grayscale cameras and a line laser to detect obstacles. The change of shape of the projected line in the camera pictures is measured and distances of obstacles can be determined