Classes for virtual Sensors–Bumpers

As I rework the behavior-based robot framework, I am encountering other areas of code that could also use improvement.  In the case of some of my sensor wrappers, I am not even sure if I ever published them.  I sometimes create virtual sensors when a group of sensors is used for specialized purposes.  The robot programs are more readable and internal logic can be abstracted from the rest of the program making for an easier implementation.

Bumpers – An example of a virtual sensor

I have a tendency to use bumpers on the front of my robots for easy (bump and escape) navigation.  Over the years I have created a couple of code sets that treat the bumper as one sensor even if I use two or more physical sensors to create it.  This article shows why and how I created a class to hide the details of a “Front Bumper” implementation.