Is there a way of making a robot sensor form a cd player?

Question

I know a cd player contains a laser and a reciever to detect the reflected light and i was wondering if there was any way of making a simple light sensor from it.

thankyou

Answer 1

yes, but it requires taking the optical assy apart and powering up the laser.
At this point every warning label in the world should flash through your mind, and a god like voice should say 'do this only at your own risk'. don't blame me for anything. The laser isn't powerful enough to burn anything, but it can do damage to your eyes and catch itself on fire if wired wrong.
basic theory: the laser emits light. usually it runs off about 5 volts.
the laser beam is run though a splitter, then a lens to focus. it then bounces off the CD, back through the lens and too a special photo sensor array that is actually 4 or 6 photo sensors.
There is practically nothing you can do with the whole assembly except read data off a CD. but you can take the assembly apart.
the laser itself may look like a small can, or a simple square IC. The light comes out of the flat side which is kind of counter intuitive. but if you find the terminal and power it up your can get it to work. what comes out is a standard low power laser beam in a deep red color.
the photo sensor array has many connections but two of them are probably the sum of four sensors. this one gives you the highest voltage out. so find the power teminal to power up the sensor array and monitor the output lines in turn. point the laser at the array and the output should go high.
that is as much as you can easily do. it can work as a sensor when something interupts the laser beam. Or youcan pulse the laser and get a morse code effect on the sensor. Or maybe you can come up with something yourself.

Answer 2

You can you but CD player sensor are designed to sense CD.
I encourage your interest & later I hope you can go to technology hobby shops to get equipment to create your own robotic projects