In this post, I want to share the basic of LiDAR, which is widely used on intelligent mobile robotics including a self-driving car, robot vacuum, navigation robot or something else. Because it provides distance information on surround, it is eyes for a robot.

Moreover, I also want to share a iLidar, which is developed by my team, hybo.

A Solid-State, Low Cost, Super-Speed, Super-Wide, Line-Laser Depth Sensor.

LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging)

LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) is a sensor the measure distance using a light. There are various principle on LiDAR to measure distance such as ToF(Time of Flight) or triangulation.

The advantage of TOF is that it can measure long distance, however it is really expensive. In the case of triangulation, it is cheap while its range is limited.

1D LiDAR

Using a point laser, 1D LiDAR can measure a point distance. It is really cheap, however it cannot used on mapping or navigation for a mobile robot.

2D LiDAR

Rotating a 1D LiDAR, it can measure 2D plane distance. It can make a map, therefore it is widely used on robotics, especially on SLAM(Simultaneously Localization And Mapping). However, because it should be rotated, it becomes big and heavy because of motor. Moreover, it cannot be used long time because rotation makes a wear phenomenon on the device. Its refresh rate also becomes slow because it should rotate one more time to see same position again!

Solid-State 2D LiDAR

To solve the rotation problem on rotation based 2D LiDAR, there are solid-state LiDAR concept, which means, measure 2D plane distance without rotation! There are several ways to make solid-state 2D LiDAR.

iLidar : Solid-State, Compact Size, Super Speed, Super Wide, Line Laser Depth Sensor

So, we make a Solid-State LiDAR ourselves because we hope make can use LiDAR easily.

To make solid-state LiDAR, we used line laser, not point laser!Furthermore, to make it cheap, we used triangulation principle.

iLidar emit IR super-wide line laser, and IR camera capture only laser pattern. Using the pattern, we calculate the distance via triangulation. Simple!

Because it is based on a super-wide line laser and triangulation, it can measure almost from 15cm to 6m(nominal) or 8m(white) on 180˚ surround! Moreover, because it does not rotate, its refresh rate is super-speed 100Hz!

This is our demo. Although it is 2D LiDAR, because it also has accelerometer and gyroscope, it can provide 3D data with rotation!

After we make this product, we want to provide the sensor for all maker with reasonable price. This is really low cost solid-state LiDAR. We are now on Kickstarter campaign for mass production. Please pledge us on Kickstarter for our vision, LiDAR for Everyone!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1697979147/lidar-for-everyone-hybo-ilidar