OptiGap sensor
Hardware
soft robotics sensor
SHOW HN2024
How HN took it
33 positive, 34 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 7 critical, out of 74 comments about the project. Thread score +0.38.
Idea: 13 for, 0 againstDocs: 6 for, 1 againstExecution: 3 for, 1 againstDesign: 0 for, 2 againstPerformance: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Clear, readable write-up
From 3 comments
What an excellent write-up. Very clearly explained, and the use of gifs and visuals to illustrate concepts was spot-on. I'm only a software engineer with a limited understanding…
jallmann on HNCongrats and if I may; your blog post should be how ph.d's are done - readable, understandable and devoid of techno mumbling.
bythreads on HN“I stuck a piece of plastic to my desk, it bent as I did it, I had time to investigate and skills to get a whole PhD out of that” And this dear worker drones, is why schedule…
lifeisstillgood on HN
Clever, simple idea
From 3 comments
This, sir, is sheer genius. I genuinely loved your approach and the way you wrote it down.
rcarmo on HNWow that's super cool! Very nice work
Balvarez on HNSolid job, and congratulations on doing something useful and hitting the program with the goal to make something tangible and getting out promptly.
Projectiboga on HN
Objections
Multiple simultaneous bends produce ambiguous readings
From 2 comments
I don't understand what happens when the sensor is bent in more than one location. At the beginning you mention a ToF sensor, which made me think that you're looking at…
robryk on HNWhat an absolutely amazing idea, great work! Your sensor data seems to have quite large "dead zones" - those should be trivially fixable by reducing the inter-sensor distance,…
crote on HN
Manufacturing the encoded multi-fiber junctions is hard to scale
From 1 comment
This is interesting! Although the way you have to have log2 fibers, and a different encoding in each junction, presents quite a manufacturing challenge. Oh well, it's not a…
knodi123 on HN
Requests
Explain what the sensor measures earlier in the post
From 2 comments
That's super cool and I hope you don't mind a little bit of unsolicited feedback but the first question everyone's asking is "what does it do?" At present the blog post starts…
porphyra on HNHi, what kind of sensor? When posting to the public you should mention the subject of what can be sensed or scanned early on.
Projectiboga on HN
Compare with fiber-optic data glove approach
From 1 comment
Thanks for sharing your work. Would you be able to compare your device to the fiber optic one used in the data glove (e.g.,…
mhb on HN
Questions
Why TPU rather than regular optical fiber
From 1 comment
This is really really cool, but why does it depend on TPU? Wouldn't it work with regular fiber optic? Or does it come down to economics?
lttlrck on HN
Why use a Kalman filter
From 1 comment
Very cool to see how it all came together. Can you elaborate on why you chose to use a Kalman filter in your signal chain?
doug_life on HN
Alternatives named
Fiber Bragg grating sensors
From 2 comments
Have you explored fiber bragg grating. 10 years ago a student of mine semi successfully explored sensing the shape of firefighter hose using that technique. Seems to gain new…
riedel on HNNot quite the same thing, but this reminds me of DAS using fiber optic cable for various acoustic sensing tasks--basically as an alternative to geophones/hydrophones. There have…
ericdfoley on HN
Distributed temperature sensing and DAS fiber sensing
From 2 comments
Similar concept but for temperature (linked on HN a while back): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_temperature_sensing
uoaei on HNNot quite the same thing, but this reminds me of DAS using fiber optic cable for various acoustic sensing tasks--basically as an alternative to geophones/hydrophones. There have…
ericdfoley on HN
Nintendo Power Glove
From 2 comments
Isn't this just the same tech as the first Nintendo Power Glove had? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g8JiGjRQNE They put light down a tube and then measured the light to trigger…
downrightmike on HNon first blush that sounds like a better version of the way the Nintendo power-glove detected finger bending.
blkhawk on HN