Asside from the Pot’s limit of around 270 degrees, what additional functionality do the OSE’s provide over the Pots?
“Measuring Angluar Travel” . . . is this the same as what the POT does?
Any good project ideas/examples that use the full functionality of this item?
Thanks,
Todd
Todd,
The VEX Potentiometer is designed mainly to measure angular position, it’s a popular sensor among applications with the need of lowering and raising an arm or object. While the VEX Optical Shaft Encoder can be used to calculate variables such as: travel, direction of rotation and shaft speed, as it’s an essential sensor for most competitions robots. Any robot with the need of an autonomous routine will put this sensor to a good use.
Also in one of your previous posts you mentioned that you were building a robotic arm, but every time the motor will be de-energized the weight of the arm will pull it down…correct?
Well with the Potentiometer you can avoid this issue by energizing the motor every time the sensor detects unwanted movement from the arm, of course you will have to write custom code to address the arm issue.
Good Luck