Electronic Spirit Level

Article View: comp.robotics

Article #454

#454

From: Robert W Murphree
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 21:05

51 lines
1965 bytes

SUBJECT:  electronic inclinometer

from New Scientist 1 february 1992 p 26

ELECTRONICALLY INCLINED TO STAY ON THE LEVEL

Spirit levels, which since the 17nth century have trustily
ensured that surfaces are level, may soon be pushed out by
a microprocessor-contolled rival that can set a true 
horizontal, a vertical or any angle in between, to one-tenth
of a degree.

	The heart of the SMARTLEVEL, produced by Wedge Innovations
in San Jose, California, is a device called a liquid-filled
inclinometer.  A sealed capsule contains two parallel conducting
discs with a space, partially filled with iquid between them.  

... Any pair of parallel conductors acts as a store of electrical
charge.  Its ability to store charge, its capacitance, is influenced
by what is between the conductors.




MY INFORMATION

ADDRRESS:  Wedge Innovations
	   2040 Fortune Drive, Suite 102
	   San Jose, CA 95131 
	   1-800-SMARTLEVEL(762-7853)

PRICE:  2 Ft. $120,  4 ft. $150



MY OPINION 

Since this is a liquid device, you"re not going to get 
millisecond sensing time, which would be nice if your
going to right yourself like a falling cat.

Also, it has to be reset if it gets jarred, a real
problem probably.



ADDITIONAL CITATIONS

J.M. CAMERON, R.c. Arkin, "Survival of falling robots,"
SPIE Proc Vol. 1613, 1992

Technical Details

Message-ID: <1992Aug19.210513.27247@constellation.ecn.uoknor.edu>

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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!ogicse!uwm.edu!linac!convex!constellation!uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu!rwmurphr
From: rwmurphr@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Robert W Murphree)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Electronic Spirit Level
Summary: Reference to Electronic Level is provided
Keywords: inclination, balance, mobile robots
Message-ID: <1992Aug19.210513.27247@constellation.ecn.uoknor.edu>
Date: 19 Aug 92 21:05:13 GMT
Article-I.D.: constell.1992Aug19.210513.27247
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