engineering

Robotic sensors

Robotic sensors is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Robotic sensors rather than just read about it. In short: Robotic sensors are used to estimate a robot's condition and environment. These signals are passed to a controller to enable appropriate behavior.

Key takeaways

Robotic sensors belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Robotic sensors to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Robotic sensors from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Robotic sensors are used to estimate a robot's condition and environment. These signals are passed to a controller to enable appropriate behavior. Sensors in robots are based on the functions of human sensory organs. Robots require extensive information about their environment in order to function effectively.

Classification Sensors provide analogs to human senses and can monitor other phenomena for which humans lack explicit sensors.

Simple Touch: Sensing an object's presence or absence. Complex Touch: Sensing an object's size, shape and/or hardness. Simple Force: Measuring force along a single axis. Complex Force: Measuring force along multiple axes. Simple Vision: Detecting edges, holes and corners. Complex Vision: Recognizing objects. Proximity: Non-contact detection of an object. Sensors can measure physical properties, such as the distance between objects, the presence of light and the frequency of sound. They can measure:

Object Proximity: The presence/absence of an object, bearing, color, distance between objects. Physical orientation. The co-ordinates of object in space. Heat: The wavelength of infrared or ultra violet rays, temperature, magnitude, direction. Chemicals: The presence, identity, and concentration of chemicals or reactants Sound: The presence, frequency, and intensity of sound. Motion controllers, potentiometers, tacho-generators and encoder are used as joint sensors, whereas strain-gauge based sensing is used at the end-effector location for contact force control.

Internal sensor It is the part of the robot. Internal sensors measure the robot's internal state. They are used to measure position, velocity and acceleration of the robot joint or end effectors.

Position sensor Position sensors measure the position of a joint (the degree to which the joint is extended). They include:

Encoder: a digital optical device that converts motion into a sequence of digital pulses. Potentiometer: a variable resistance device that expresses linear or angular displacements in terms of voltage. Linear variable differential transformer: a displacement transducer that provides high accuracy. It generates an AC signal whose magnitude is a function of the displacement of a moving core. Synchros and Resolvers

Velocity Sensor A velocity or speed sensor measures consecutive position measurements at known intervals and computes the time rate of change in the position values.

Applications In a parts feeder, a vision sensor can eliminate the need for an alignment pallet. Vision-enabled insertion robots can precisely perform fitting and insertion operations of machine parts.

See also Robotic sensing Tactile sensor Robot locomotion Outline of robotics Robot App Store Liquid handling robot Glossary of robotics Index of robotics articles Mechatronics

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Robotic sensors

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Robotic sensors claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Robotic sensors before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Robotic sensors ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Robotic sensors

In research: Robotic sensors appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Robotic sensors in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Robotic sensors is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Robotic sensing, Robotics hardware, Sensors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Robotic sensors outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Robotic sensors” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Robotic sensors in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Robotic sensors means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Robotic sensors out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Robotic sensors in simple terms?

Robotic sensors are used to estimate a robot's condition and environment. These signals are passed to a controller to enable appropriate behavior.

Why does Robotic sensors matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Robotic sensors?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Robotic sensors.