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Sensors and Actuators

Modified 2020-08-10 by Peyton Strong

Important Vocabulary

Sensors - parts on a robot that allow it to sense, or estimate, its own conditions or environment

Actuators - parts on a robot that use energy to interact with its environment

Controller - connects the input from the sensors to create an output from the actuators in order to accomplish a goal

Sensors in your drone:

  1. Infrared Sensor (IR) - measures the distance to an object (or the ground) using infrared beams, then uses the cable to report it
IR + IR Sensor Cable
  1. Camera - observes 2D images of the world to allow the drone to determine its planar position and speed
Camera (Pi Cam) + Flexible Flat Cable (FFC)
  1. Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) - sensor on your flight controller (FC) that allows the drone to tell how it is accelerating and rotating in all 3 dimensions
Flight Controller (FC) with IMU

Actuators in your drone:

  1. Motors - actuators that spin at a variable RPM (revolutions per minute) depending on how much power it recieves (quantity = 4)
2 CW and 2 CCW Motors
  1. Propellers - device with blades attached to motors to turn rotational motion into thrust (quantity = 4)
2 Clockwise and 2 Counterclockwise Blade Propellers (with Extras)
  1. LED - actuator that lights up that you will be using in some experiments
2 Clockwise and 2 Counterclockwise Blade Propellers (with Extras)

Controllers in your drone:

  1. Electronic Speed Controllers (ESCs) - small computers that react extremely quickly to accomplish to simply keep the motors spinning at a particular speed by sending it a variable amount of power based on the input it recieves (quantity = 4)
1 ESC for each Motor
  1. Flight Controller - computer that connects the IMU sensor to the ESCs and motors to react quickly in order to fly the drone at a particular angle
Flight Controller
  1. Raspberry Pi - more powerful computer that accomplishes a complicated goal, such as flying at a particular speed or to a particular position (it excecutes specific code loaded via an SD card)
Raspberry Pi Model B