Viability of Low-Cost Infrared Sensors for Short Range Tracking

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of low-cost infrared time of flight sensors as an effective and affordable alternative for short-range target tracking in robotics, challenging traditional methods like cameras and ultrasonic sensors.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of infrared time of flight sensors for accurate target tracking, demonstrating their viability as a cost-effective solution.

Findings

Infrared sensors can accurately track moving targets.

The approach is more affordable than traditional methods.

Infrared sensors are suitable for simple, short-range tracking tasks.

Abstract

A classic task in robotics is tracking a target in the external environment. There are several well-documented approaches to this problem. This paper presents a novel approach to this problem using infrared time of flight sensors. The use of infrared time of flight sensors is not common as a tracking approach, typically used for simple motion detectors. However, with the approach highlighted in this paper they can be used to accurately track the position of a moving subject. Traditional approaches to the tracking problem often include cameras, or ultrasonic sensors. These approaches can be expensive and overcompensating in some use cases. The method focused on in this paper can be superior in terms of cost and simplicity.