Miniature optical scanning range sensor utilizing a silicon micromachined scanner

This paper describes a miniature optical scanning range sensor based on a newly proposed detecting method using a Si micromachined optical scanner for detecting the range to a target plane. This sensor consists of the micro scanner, a light source and photodetector with a pinhole and features a higher resolution detection compared to the conventional method such as trigonometrical measurement using a Position Sensitive Detector (PSD). The sensor is capable of high resolution detection in the range 40 mm to 50 mm with an accuracy of less than 1 mm when the size of the sensor is 2 mm/spl times/4 mm. This sensor could be applied to the sensor for a micro maintenance robot.