Sensors, Speech, and Vision Systems

This unit covers selection, construction, calibration, and integration of light, temperature, motion, audio (speech), and video sensor subsystems for robotic platforms, including tethered and wireless data links. Students will build hardware, develop embedded software for acquisition and basic processing, and evaluate system performance and application trade-offs to prepare for full-system integration.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze the operating principles, performance characteristics, limitations, and real-world applications of light, temperature, motion, audio, and video sensors to recommend appropriate sensor choices for given robotic tasks
• Apply electrical, mechanical, and calibration procedures to construct, mount, and connect temperature, motion, light, microphone, and camera systems, and configure tethered and wireless data links
• Demonstrate embedded software techniques to acquire, filter, process, and interpret sensor data and implement basic speech recognition/playback and video streaming functionality on a robotic platform
• Evaluate system performance, communication trade-offs, and safety/ethical considerations of wireless video and data link designs and propose optimized configurations for mission-specific robotic applications