[ros-users] Detecting Glass Walls

[Eric Perko]

If only I thought we could get away with some tape on the glass... :)
Sadly, one of the large areas of glass we are worried about is the
entrance to the department office and basically just glass, floor to
ceiling, probably at least 10 feet wide and no posts in that zone,
just a couple of glass doors with hefty hinges near the floor and
ceiling.

I hadn't thought about a clear IR reflective coating... it would work
for the tour guide, but not for a few other projects that could use
glass detection in arbitrary indoor environments. Thanks for the
suggestion - I'll definitely take a look into it.

- Eric

On Fri, Apr 2, 2010 at 4:44 PM, Bill Smart <wds at cse.wustl.edu> wrote:
> On Fri, 2010-04-02 at 12:50 -0400, Eric Perko wrote:
>> Thanks Radu,
>>
>> I haven't gotten into a serious literature search yet, but thats my
>> next stop. Figured I'd ping this list first and see if any of the ROS
>> users out there had already solved this or done some experimenting
>> with any methods and found them to be good/bad.
>
> At the risk of offering the hackiest solution, you could think about
> putting a strip of tape at the level of the laser plane, along the
> glass.  The simple solution is to use opaque tape, which would look
> ugly, with high probability, but you might get away with if you get the
> colour and size right (and make it look like a feature of the decor).
> Alternatively, is there a tape, or glass treatment, that is transparent
> to visible light, but reflective in the IR range?
>
> Our experience with a SICK hitting glass has been much the same as
> yours.  Most of the beams go through, but some reflect sporadically.
> Might there be a way to notice this, and combine it with other
> information (from the non-transparent posts) to infer the glass.
>
> -- Bill
>
>
>
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