How to translate various types of "sensors" into English?

As a developer of machine translation engines, we collect bilingual data in numerous fields.

Recently, neural network translation engines, which are artificial intelligence (AI) systems, have become mainstream. By learning a large amount of bilingual data, translation engines can be developed to increase translation accuracy.

We are collecting and cleaning bilingual data on a daily basis in order to learn a large amount of data in the field we want to enhance, such as bilingual data in the tourism field to improve translation accuracy in the tourism field, and bilingual data in the legal field to improve translation accuracy in the legal field, and so on.

This time, we would like to introduce to you the Japanese and English translations of "sensors" that have caught our attention among the bilingual data we have collected so far in the field of technology, which was posted on the website of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).

URL: https: //www.aist.go.jp/aist_j/highlights/2017/vol3/index.html

Japanese: The acoustic sensor and the range sensor are used to acquire the waveform of the sound of a blow and the location of the blow together, and the presence or absence of abnormality is automatically determined by the abnormal sound analysis technology.

URL: https: //www.aist.go.jp/aist_e/list/highlights/2017/vol3/index.html

English: A hitting sound waveform and hitting position information are simultaneously acquired using an acoustic sensor and a range scanner, and the presence or absence of an anomaly is automatically determined by an anomaly sound detection technology.

What caught my attention here is that the Japanese phrase "acoustic sensor and range sensor" is translated into English as "an acoustic sensor and a range scanner.

acoustic sensor acoustic sensor

range sensor range scanner

It is quite interesting that all "sensors" are translated with the word "scanner" instead of "sensor.

So, we asked the opinion of an employee who is a doctor of engineering, experienced as a director of a research institute of a major electronics manufacturer, and is currently in charge of our English translation team.

Here are the results.

The word "sensor" originally means "something that senses," and refers to a device that converts physical or chemical phenomena into electrical signals, etc. Therefore, we can say that acoustic sensors are indeed "sensors. On the other hand, a range sensor is a "sensor" in a broad sense, but it does not just sense.

On the other hand, a range sensor is a "sensor" in a broad sense, but it also has the function of scanning with a laser, so it is called a laser range scanner, or simply a range scanner. However, in a broader sense, it is a "sensor," so it is also called a laser range sensor.

The answer was, "We are guessing.

In addition, he explained about acoustic sensors and range sensors with the proviso that "this is just a guess.

About acoustic sensors

　Like ordinary microphones, acoustic sensors are thought to be sensors that detect (sense) the sound of a structure being struck and convert it into an electrical signal. This sensor only passively senses signals (sound) and has no active role.

About the range-finding sensor

　The sensor probably scans (scans) the structure with a laser and detects the position of the hammer strike from the reflected light. In principle, this is similar to the laser radar (LiDAR: Light Detection and Ranging) used in self-driving cars and cleaning robots. Incidentally, a smaller version of this sensor is also installed in the iPhone12 Pro. Unlike acoustic sensors, this sensor works both "actively" emitting a laser and sensing the returned signal. To use an analogy, it has the role of "irradiating laser light and detecting the reflected signal," like an optical pickup in a CD or DVD.

This is what it means.

Even if we say "sensor" in a word, the role of a sensor varies depending on what it detects and what its function is.

I was going to write a serious technical article, but I didn't realize that I was going to make an old man's gag here.

We will continue to pick up and introduce the bilingual data we have collected that we are interested in, so please stay tuned!