Looking to see if there’s any interest in these as well as suggestions.
To fill the niche of the discontinuation of the GHI Ultrasonic module, I’ve put together a couple Gadgeeter modules called DistoMatic. Driven by a request of Duke Nukem, there are 2 modules thus far - a sensor interface and breakout board.
The sensor boards are specifically designed for the Maxbotix HRLV-EZ (with connections for a temperature sensor) and LV-EZ modules. They use A+X/Y sockets on the Gadgeeter mainboards. I’m going to put together a final version some tweeks. Afterwards I’m going to make a Sharp IR interface modules. The small holes on the module are aligned for mounting on a servo horn.
The breakout board allows you to use multiple of these modules in a single A+X/Y socket. If there’s interest and I have the time, a future version may include an ADC to allow more than 3 sensor boards.
My CerbBee is .NET 4.2 so the initial code release will target that framework. I plan on updating another of my mainboards soon to 4.3, so shortly the code will be ported (should be pretty easy).
I don’t have a plug in for the Gadgeteer designer, but the code is straightforward to use:
Here’s the init code
DistoMatic.DistoMaticSensor snsr1, snsr2;
// Initialize the breakout board on socket #3 on the CerbBee
DistoMatic.DistoMaticG3 snr = new DistoMatic.DistoMaticG3(3);
// Startup a HRLV sensor on socket #1 on my breakboard
snsr1 = snr.InitializeSensor(1, DistoMatic.DistoMaticSensorTypes.MaxbotixHRLV);
// Sensor2 is socket #2 on the CerbBee directly and is a LV sensor.
snsr2 = new DistoMatic.DistoMaticLV(2);
The code to read a module connected to the mainboard and a module connected to the breakout is exactly the same:
var val1 = snsr1.GetReading();
var val2 = snsr2.GetReading();
The code has 2 ways to read the sensor. One is to get a reading on demand and the other is to have a background thread read the value on a customized interval.
Both the code and hardware will be open and released soon.
Here is it in action: