Single pulse proximal distance sensor with thermoacoustic transmitter

This paper reports on a small size ultrasonic proximal distance sensor. The size of fabricated proximal distance sensor is 10 mm times 8 mm times 1 mm, and it is small and thin enough to be put on a robot arm. Since a single pulse ultrasound generated by a thermoacoustic transmitter was used, the sensor can measure the proximal distance down to 3 mm without any interference from the transmitter. We measured the sensor´s characteristics. By putting this sensor on the tip of the robot arm, we demonstrated the detection and evasive motion of an obstacle.