Parts > Sensors

About one year ago, Nerian Vision Technologies introduced the SP1 stereo vision system, which is an innovative sensor solution for 3D depth perception. The SP1 is an embedded system that connects to two industrial cameras, which are placed at different viewing positions. Similar to human vision, the SP1 is able to infer the depth of the 3D scene, by comparing the images from both cameras. This system is based on a programmable logic device, a so-called FPGA, which provides the necessary processing power to perform all image processing in real time. This hardware-based design lends itself to massively parallel computations, which lead to a vast performance gain when compared to […] Read More

Swift Navigation Announces a New GPS Module for Robots Piksi Multi Provides Robotics Manufacturers with a Multi-Band, Multi-Constellation High-Precision GNSS Receiver, at a Breakthrough Price Swift Navigation™, the San Francisco-based startup building centimeter-accurate GPS technology, has announced its newest product, Piksi™ Multi, and the robotics industry is going to want to take notice of this multi-band, multi-constellation high-precision GNSS receiver. Just as Swift’s original Piksi module ushered in a new era of precision GPS affordability, the new Piksi Multi represents a revolution in robotics positioning with advanced precision GNSS capabilities for the mass market. Swift Navigation solutions utilize real-time kinematics (RTK) technology, providing location solutions that are 100 times more […] Read More

Plugging in precision   You can now integrate highly precise GPS into your electronics projects, without breaking the bank.   Whether you’re building robots or flying drones, you probably live with a compromise: positioning is either imprecise or requires expensive equipment. Now it’s possible to get much more precise positions, without the cost associated with professional GPS equipment, thanks to Reach. Reach is a high-precision GPS receiver available for $235, based on the Intel® Edison microcomputer platform. The device weighs just 12g, so it can be easily mounted on a drone or robot, and measures 26mm x 45mm.   Reach makes high-precision GPS available in a small form factor suitable […] Read More

Press release by: Rhoeby Dynamics LLC October 2015, Santa Cruz, CA. The new Rhoeby Dynamics R2D LiDAR is the smallest, lightest, lowest-cost 2D LiDAR device on the market today. It’s proven capable of performing mapping, navigation and dynamic obstacle avoidance in the indoor setting, and comes complete with its open-source ROS driver for rapid integration into any robotics platform.                   The device uses IR LED Time-of-Flight (not laser-based), making it a quite novel technology. This novel approach is what enables us to achieve the small form factor, low weight, and helps keep the cost down. All settings are easily controlled via USB […] Read More

Tektronix Entry Level TBS1000 Oscilloscope Series, giving electrical engineers, educators and hobbyist an affordable, dependable and full-featured tool for a wide variety of general purpose electronics test applications. With prices starting at just $520, the TBS1000 Series (for Tektronix Basic Scope) makes it easier than ever for educators to put an oscilloscope on every desktop, for hobbyists and tinkerers to enjoy Tektronix reliability and performance, or for companies to outfit their entire engineering and technical support teams with the powerful diagnostic tools they need. Designed and manufactured by Tektronix, and backed by a 5-year warranty, the new oscilloscopes deliver excellent performance and accuracy with 1 GS/s or 500 MS/s sample […] Read More

Piher Sensors & Controls has introduced the MTS-360 Mechanical Mount Rotary Position Sensor with integral PCB for fast and easy mounting.   Designed with the sensor directly mounted onto a PCB, the innovative MTS-360 Sensor/PCB Combo package allows engineers to easily install a fully featured rotary sensor without first having to design a printed circuit board for the sensor.  The result is time-savings and convenience. The MTS-360 Sensor/PCB assembly is available with either 6 pin (dual output) or 3 pin (single output) Molex 90119 Series mating connectors.  The PCB / Sensor assembly can be easily secured with three standard M3 screws.  The entire assembly measures just 35mm wide by 36mm long […] Read More

Kinetic 3500 is a turn-key embeddable sensor development kit based on open source software.  Powered by a Texas Instruments (TI) OMAP3530 (Cortex A8 RISC processor and DSP) together with a Xilinx Spartan 6 FPGA plus a rich set of sensor peripherals including a tri-axis MEMS gyroscope, tri-axis MEMS accelerometer, tri-axis magnetic sensor, a GPS module, a temperature sensor, and high speed 20 Msps 12 bit A/D and 14 bit D/A converters. The Alico Kinetic 3500 SDK product will be delivered with a full set of sensor capabilities that are operational out-of-the box.  Kinetic 3500 reduces ramp-up time on learning the fundamentals of OMAP and FPGA technology, getting up to speed […] Read More

At the 2009 IEEE conference on Technologies for Practical Robot Applications which took place in Woburn, MA, the robot named ROAMS (Remotely Operated and Autonomous Mapping System) was able to map its surroundings autonomously by using a cheaper system than the conventional methods. The robot uses a few existing mapping technologies for building color 3D maps of the surroundings. The technology called LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), which is basically a laser beam emitted by the vehicle bouncing off from the surroundings thus enabling the robot to build a 3D map. A commonly used 3D Lidar system costs around $100,000. However ROAMS is able to do the task for about […] Read More