A SPLIT IMAGE VISION SENSOR

A vision sensor has been developed that uses only two lenses, a split prism, and a defector to acquire an image. This system uses the split prism to create a split image such that the displacement of the image is proportional to its range from the sensor. Prototype sensors have b een examined both theoretically and experimentally, and have been foun d to measure object ranges with less than +/-2 percent error. Acquisit ion of a single-point depth measurement is sufficiently fast for real- time use, and the optical components needed to build the sensor are in expensive. The effect that each optical component has on the performan ce of the sensor is also discussed, and an optimal system design proce dure is developed.