Miniature Cameras for Ultra-Light Flying Robots

The Laboratory of Intelligent Systems (LIS) at the Swiss Federal Technical Institute at Lausanne (EPFL) is working on a project to create an autonomous flying robot that uses ‘vision’ (i.e. optical flow) to maneuver through small spaces such as corridors in a building. The navigation algorithm uses data from a linear photodiode array and a gyroscope to determine the distance of the robot from an obstacle. This project involves the design of a light-weight vision system to be used on the flying robot. The vision system is made up of two identical modules, each one containing a linear photodiode sensor array, a focusing lens with associated plastic casing, a gyroscope, and the PCB on which the system is mounted. The first module will be pointed ahead of the robot and will be used for lateral steering, and the second module will be pointed straight down and be used to control elevation. The main design constraint is the weight of the system, which has to be below 2g for the robot to fly.