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Thanks for this. When I first started working in LiDAR nearly ten years ago the cheapest hardware you could acquire was $25,000 and completely proprietary. It’

Thanks for this. When I first started working in LiDAR nearly ten years ago the cheapest hardware you could acquire was $25,000 and completely proprietary. It’s nice to see a simple hardware hack for playing with the technology. Maybe this will encourage some intrepid engineers to build the next wave of hobbyist point cloud collection devices. There are lots of fun applications like home surveying to 3D model generation.

rburhum 9y ago
Velodyne?
- rtkwe 9y ago
  Personally, anywhere I can't see a price without contacting a sales rep from the company I hesitate to call hobbyist.
  - nix0n 9y ago
    I agree, definitely not for hobbyists. List price seems to be $8,000 if you're just buying one of their cheapest product. http://velodynelidar.com/docs/news/This%20Palm-Sized%20Laser%20Could%20Make%20Self-Driving%20Cars%20Way%20Cheaper%20_%20WIRED.pdf http://velodynelidar.com/docs/news/This%20Palm-Sized%20Laser...
  - drharby 9y ago
    Eh some motors i needed for building an r2 droid came from such a site. But yes on the whole i concur
- michaelt 9y ago
  At the time Velodyne brought out their HDL-64E for ~$75,000 you could buy a SICK LMS-200 for about 10% of that. That's why loads of the DARPA Grand Challenge vehicles were plastered in SICK LIDARs [1] back when Velodyne only had one prototype, and it was on a truck they were putting in the competition themselves [2]. Course, Velodyne's product may be 10x the cost, but it has 64x the number of lasers, and good range and direct sunlight performance, so it's understandable that it took off. [1] https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-sep-28-2005-fontana-ca-usa-autonomous-team-vehicles-before-the-start-64082198.html https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-sep-28-2005-fontana-ca-usa... [2] https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2005-10/popscis-darpa-grand-challenge-preview-update-2 https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2005-10/popscis-darpa...
beambot 9y ago
10 years ago was 2008. You could buy a Hokuyo for under $3k back then. Now depth cameras were a different story. SwissRanger was $10-15k, but were usurped by the sub-$200 Kinect just a few years later.

rburhum 9y ago

Velodyne?

rtkwe 9y ago
Personally, anywhere I can't see a price without contacting a sales rep from the company I hesitate to call hobbyist.
- nix0n 9y ago
  I agree, definitely not for hobbyists. List price seems to be $8,000 if you're just buying one of their cheapest product. http://velodynelidar.com/docs/news/This%20Palm-Sized%20Laser%20Could%20Make%20Self-Driving%20Cars%20Way%20Cheaper%20_%20WIRED.pdf http://velodynelidar.com/docs/news/This%20Palm-Sized%20Laser...
- drharby 9y ago
  Eh some motors i needed for building an r2 droid came from such a site. But yes on the whole i concur
michaelt 9y ago
At the time Velodyne brought out their HDL-64E for ~$75,000 you could buy a SICK LMS-200 for about 10% of that. That's why loads of the DARPA Grand Challenge vehicles were plastered in SICK LIDARs [1] back when Velodyne only had one prototype, and it was on a truck they were putting in the competition themselves [2]. Course, Velodyne's product may be 10x the cost, but it has 64x the number of lasers, and good range and direct sunlight performance, so it's understandable that it took off. [1] https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-sep-28-2005-fontana-ca-usa-autonomous-team-vehicles-before-the-start-64082198.html https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-sep-28-2005-fontana-ca-usa... [2] https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2005-10/popscis-darpa-grand-challenge-preview-update-2 https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2005-10/popscis-darpa...

beambot 9y ago

10 years ago was 2008. You could buy a Hokuyo for under $3k back then. Now depth cameras were a different story. SwissRanger was $10-15k, but were usurped by the sub-$200 Kinect just a few years later.