DPRG mailing list archives: [DPRG] Cool Christmas Presents

Wed Dec 27 18:23:33 CST 2006

Ed,

When I got back to Austin today, I stopped by the local Walmart and
picked up one of those hot wheels radar guns.  Pretty slick!  They
appear to be on clearance for $20.00 and I saw them at HEB later for
$12.50.

I found some pictures online, and it seems that its using doppler
shift, not time of flight.  Makes sense, because thats cheap.   There
is some discussion on boosting the power, too.

But it seems that the base signal is being measured and displayed by a
microcontroller of some sort.

So the question to everyone is this:
Given a sensor that gives you the speed of a moving object, can you
produce 'interesting' data for navigation?

Perhaps use it while driving to check your odometry by measuring your
own speed against the ground?

Sweep it 360 degrees and create a sort of optical flow map?

Use two at once and come up with the speed of two points in front of
you, then compute a line (gradient) that could give you speed and
direction of travel?

I've not opened mine up yet, but from the pictures, the base-band
processor would easily be replaced.

Ed P

On 12/26/06, Ed Okerson <ed at okerson.com> wrote:
> So what cool toys did everyone find under the tree?
>
> My kids got me the Hot Wheels Radar Gun.  How they manage to make a real
> Doppler radar gun for $20 is beyond me.  Now to figure out a good robotics
> use for it.  I wonder how hard it would be to make a sonar replacement?
>
> Anyone going to RBNO tonight?
>
> Ed
>
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