<title>Noncontact Visual Three-Dimensional Ranging Devices</title>

Abstract

This paper describes design and development of two types of 3-D ranging devices for robotic applications: both are noncontact, optical devices based on active illumination and triangulation. One is a laser scanning ranging device for medium-range (50cm), and the other is a proximity range sensor for short range (5 cm). The features of the devices are that both use analog area position sensor chips and that they provide simple, fast, accurate, non-contact visual sensing of range information.