FiberGrid

Fiber Grid is almost made for event cameras:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_camera

https://inivation.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-08-iniVation-devices-Specifications.pdf

Pixel wise they have 320x240 to 640x480 resolutions.  They have 1 to 200 us (microsecond) temporal event resolution but they are very expensive.  For that price I'd rather use 100-200 discrete optical components.  When people realize how cool these cams are and they fall in price due to mass production though...

When Fiber Grid will be used with Event Cameras, it will demonstrate the right way to do multisensory integration.  This will change what AI researchers feed to their models and hopefully get us closer to AGI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multisensory_integration

I've added a python driver available here:

https://github.com/rand3289/FiberGrid/blob/master/fibergrid.py

As promised it is about 30 lines of code.

I've created a little demo for this technology.  It took me just a few hours to make it:
https://hackaday.io/project/172309-3d-printed-joystick
There seem to be many followers of this project, however no one has actively took an interest by building anything.  All it takes is a $5 USB cam and some cheap fiber guys...  Unless YOU create sensors, this project is not going anywhere !!!  What happened?  Is it too complicated or there is a boundary to entry?  I think it's simpler than learning how to solder and program MCUs.  Let me know what's up by sending me a PM  or email: toandrey (at) yahoo (dot) com    I am lost here.

Optical encoders are the easiest sensors to use with FiberGrid!  Here I am testing an encoder with two fibers attached to it

In the future, I will make an encoder wheel with pegs out of alignment in order to place tracks close together. It will also have slits narrowing towards one end to block more light and increase precision.  For now I've taken an existing encoder wheel I've found on thingieverse and created a bracket that fits fibergrid plugs.  Bracket can be downloaded here.

I am working on a one-piece (grid attached to shroud) version for a board camera.  fibergrid_board_cam.zip  For now it has one plug hole.  It prints under an hour in vase mode. It can also be printed as a multi-layer shell.

Computer mice have optical sensors in them that have hundreds of pixels and internal framerates of thousands of frames per second.  Many of them allow raw image readout.  Reading them at high FPS is another story.  I've heard about read speeds of only 10fps over serial.  At that speed mouse sensors could only be used to add FiberGrid support to low end MCUs without USB.  If you succeed at reading any mouse image sensors at 30 fps or higher using any bus or find inexpensive high fps cameras or CCD/CMOS image sensors, please let me know!  Would TOF cameras be any good for this?

Another possibility are CMOS linear image sensors. (Toshiba or Espos)  The problem is focusing hundreds of fibers on a short (8 to 30mm) narrow window.  You need an MCU to control them.  With linear sensors you no longer need FiberGrid software.

Please share your sensor designs!  Send me a link to your creations or pictures and suggestions to toandrey(at)yahoo(dot)com