Yes I remember bringing the Robosapien media robot to my mom's birthday party and she loved it as it was the size of a little kid, when she took it outside ,the infrared from the sun made it go crazy,LOL!

It isn't hard to explain - we've just been unable to make it happen. There's dozens of filters we have used on the cameras and none remove the daylight IR but also remain the IR transmitter.

With every filter we've used on the cameras, the IR from the sunlight was able to be seen. IR leds unfortunately are within the same spectrum of sunlight. I still do not know how you can filter it out. I can't find information or papers on the internet either about being able to use IR outside in the day. Which is also why all drone path planning and tracking use IR at night only.

Any information that provides an example or using IR cameras and transmitters in daylight would be welcomed.

All you would need to do to use our navigation system is tell me where to get a filter that allows IR from the transmitter to go through while filtering all daylight. If you have that, it will just work outside. You can build it yourself, the hardware files are opensource. Just add your custom daylight ir filter and it'll work for you

Here's the information for you to make an IPS and add you daylight filter that allows IR transmitter light but filters daylight: https://synthiam.com/Support/robot-hardware/indoor-positioning-system

Hi,

is it possible that you used "conventional" IR filters ?

In my text I was talking about so-called interference filters (sorry that I forgot to mention this specific term). They usually have a transmittive bandwidth of a few nanometers (nm). Only this class of filters is able to suppress unwanted IR from the sun as wanted. Others are too broadbanded (--> low SNR).

To be honest, I have to mention that such filters can be quite expensive; one has to check the market for surplus and other options.

A filter with  2" diameter with a bandwidth of some 2 nm may cost around 2k$ (new and custom specified).

HOWEVER ...

... the aperture of the camera is very small (around 2 mm), so that - theoretically - one may produce some 730 tiny filters from such a 2" element.

Considering a loss of about 30% (cutting, etc.), about 220 tiny filters could be obtained, resulting in a cost of about 10 $ per filter. NOT THAT BAD !

Cheers

Volker

Go give it a shot and let me know how it works! You’d be changing the world of outdoor robot navigation if you could do it

PS, here's the link to the hardware and firmware. All you'd need to do is put your special IR filter on the IR camera. The other camera is for visit light so you can see where to setup way points and such: https://synthiam.com/Support/robot-hardware/indoor-positioning-system

Hey guys, to clarify, it's the "daylight filter" that allows IR to pass through. The IR camera filters daylight and allows IR to pass and hit the CCD.

The Visible Spectrum Camera allows daylight to pass and has an IR blocking filter.

The IPS uses Infrared light with an 850nm wavelength. I've never used a 1500nm LED before but it seems like a fun thing to try!

Hi Jeremy,

in principle yes, but keep in mind that these filters are so-called "edge filters" or "cutoff filters", meaning that they remove only the short-wavelength part of the spectrum.

What I was proposing is a "bandpass filter", leaving only a very narrow "spectral window" for the light to pass. But - as said - these can be very expensive.

Bottom line: It is surely worth to try a cutoff filter at first !

LED wavelength will certainly in the NIR around 800 nm - 900 nm. These 1,5 m devices are laser diodes; no LEDs anymore and are quite expensive as well.

In order to increase camera SNR one has another two options at the transmitter side:

-   Easy: Increasing LED power (there are enough ampères available at a charging station).

-   More demanding: Adding a transmitter optics (kind of ring shaped cylinder lens around the LED(s)) that is concentrating the LED light in a more horizontal plane and not waisting the photons into directions, where the robot will never be.

I guess in Spring 2021 I will approach this topic. Beforehand, my 1 m insect needs to "learn" walking properly.

I’m pretty stoked to see this huge guy moving about. You’ll have to connect him to exosphere and let me take a spin sometime