Configure an ultrasonic Camera

Usage

An ultrasonic distance sensor can also be configured as a sensor resource. When configured as a sensor, you can use the sensor method GetReadings(), rather than the camera method GetPointCloud().

Configure an ultrasonic camera to integrate the HC-S204 ultrasonic distance sensor into your robot:

Navigate to the Config tab of your robot’s page in the Viam app. Click on the Components subtab and click Create component. Select the camera type, then select the ultrasonic model. Enter a name for your camera and click Create.

Creation of a ultrasonic camera in the Viam app config builder.

Copy and paste the following attribute template into your camera’s Attributes box. Then remove and fill in the attributes as applicable to your camera, according to the table below.

Attributes template
Attributes example

{
  "trigger_pin": "<pin-number>",
  "echo_interrupt_pin": "<pin-number>",
  "board": "<your-board-name>",
  "timeout_ms": <int>
}

{
  "trigger_pin": "5",
  "echo_interrupt_pin": "15",
  "board": "local",
  "timeout_ms": "1200"
}

{
  "components": [
    {
      "name": "<your-ultrasonic-sensor-name>",
      "model": "ultrasonic",
      "type": "camera",
      "namespace": "rdk",
      "attributes": {
        "trigger_pin": "<pin-number>",
        "echo_interrupt_pin": "<pin-number>",
        "board": "<your-board-name>",
        "timeout_ms": <int>
      },
      "depends_on": []
    }
  ]
}

{
  "components": [
    {
      "name": "my-ultrasonic-sensor",
      "model": "ultrasonic",
      "type": "camera",
      "namespace": "rdk",
      "attributes": {
        "trigger_pin": "5",
        "echo_interrupt_pin": "15",
        "board": "local",
        "timeout_ms": "1200"
      },
      "depends_on": []
    }
  ]
}

The following attributes are available for ultrasonic cameras:

Attribute	Type	Inclusion	Description
`trigger_pin`	string	Required	The pin number of the board’s GPIO pin that you have wired the ultrasonic’s trigger pin to.
`echo_interrupt_pin`	string	Required	The pin number of the pin the ultrasonic’s echo pin is wired to on the board. If you have already created a digital interrupt for this pin in the board’s configuration, use that digital interrupt’s `name` instead.
`board`	string	Required	The `name` of the board the ultrasonic is wired to.
`timeout_ms`	int	Optional	Time to wait in milliseconds before timing out of requesting to get ultrasonic distance readings. Default: `1000`.

Next Steps

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If you notice any issues with the documentation, feel free to file an issue or edit this file.

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