View Full Version : LIDAR Lite Alternative
Our Team was using the LIDAR Lite rangefinder this year in order to get the distance to the goal. We were thinking of doing a servo mounted version in order to do some basic point cloud tracking of objects on the field. We were going to order a new one for this purpose, however it turns out the the company that was making them (PulsedLight) was bought by Garmin; their website is now offline (http://pulsedlight3d.com/), and we are now worried that they are no longer being manufactured, especially as their previously listed official distributors no longer have any stock.
I was wondering if anybody knows about any low cost, FRC Legal alternatives to the LIDAR Light?
marshall
11-09-2016, 08:43
Our Team was using the LIDAR Lite rangefinder this year in order to get the distance to the goal. We were thinking of doing a servo mounted version in order to do some basic point cloud tracking of objects on the field. We were going to order a new one for this purpose, however it turns out the the company that was making them (PulsedLight) was bought by Garmin; their website is now offline (http://pulsedlight3d.com/), and we are now worried that they are no longer being manufactured, especially as their previously listed official distributors no longer have any stock.
I was wondering if anybody knows about any low cost, FRC Legal alternatives to the LIDAR Light?
In theory, this thing is legal (I can't confirm because I don't know if it is Class 1 or Class 1M though):
http://www.slamtec.com/en
It's just outside of the price range for FRC but I suspect a message to the manufacturer will result in some discounts for FRC teams.
Also, these are legal and within the price range:
https://www.getsurreal.com/product/xv-lidar-controller-v1-2
But they have to be paired with one of these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/191569604714?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true
Also, worth mentioning Intel's RealSense line because I expect to see a few teams using it this coming season.
Website appears to be back up. Perhaps they were changing hostings and the DNS took a few days to update?
otherguy
16-09-2016, 09:11
Looks like they are selling a Garmin branded LIDAR Lite v3 now. SparkFun just put out notice this morning:
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14032
Sent from my LGLS751 using Tapatalk
Looks to be the same specs as the v2 except it costs $20 more.
marshall
16-09-2016, 12:13
Looks to be the same specs as the v2 except it costs $20 more.
But it comes with Lifetime Maps for that extra $20.
Kevin Ainsworth
16-09-2016, 12:35
We did some extensive testing with the Robopeak RPLIDAR A1 sensor.
One of our students had some great obstacle avoidance software running that showed the robot making the correct decision most of the time. The only issue is the lasers don't see polycarbonate. Diamond plate=fine, robots=fine, game object=fine, polycarbonate field elements and side panels=no good. I asked this particular student to record his progress but I never got the information from him. Too bad because the work he did looked really good.
I would like to make a setup that uses a lidar to detect everything but the field itself and then mount a spinning ultrasonic sensor or four corner sensors to grossly detect the boundaries of the field. The issue with a spinning ultrasonic is that you can't rotate the sensor very fast due to its response time. We've just never got to that project yet.
Andrew Duerner
16-09-2016, 13:19
Recently, a friend of mine had a successful kickstarter campaign for a LIDAR and they are offering preorders as well. Quoted delivery is January, just in time!
http://scanse.io/
Their LIDAR uses the Pulselite tech and I haven't heard of any supply issues from him since the acquisition by Garmin.
Recently, a friend of mine had a successful kickstarter campaign for a LIDAR and they are offering preorders as well. Quoted delivery is January, just in time!
http://scanse.io/
Their LIDAR uses the Pulselite tech and I haven't heard of any supply issues from him since the acquisition by Garmin.
I didn't see anything on the data sheet specifying what class the laser was. Is it Class 1?
Greg Needel
16-09-2016, 16:33
I didn't see anything on the data sheet specifying what class the laser was. Is it Class 1?
The 3rd generation version was just announced and looks like it will be available soon from sparkfun.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14032
The 3rd generation version was just announced and looks like it will be available soon from sparkfun.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14032
Oops, should have clarified, I was wondering about the Sweep sensor that Andrew Duerner linked. I know the Lidar-LITE is Class 1, tried to source a v2 for Stronghold but they were OOS everywhere because of the acquisition.
Tom Line
16-09-2016, 19:53
There is precious little information on the sweep site about HOW the communication works. I'm pretty sure it's more complicated than just plugging in a USB cable. Will drivers be available for the roboRio? LabVIEW libraries?
Michael Hill
16-09-2016, 23:23
The 3rd generation version was just announced and looks like it will be available soon from sparkfun.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14032
Thanks, just preordered one. I think I glanced over the e-mail from Sparkfun this morning and missed it.
As a backer of the Sweep (http://scanse.io/) I've been anxiously awaiting news. and I found these tidbits today:
From the Kickstarter page:
Scanse Creator on July 27
We will be releasing a driver for the NI roboRIO controller when we begin shipping.
And yes, the laser is a Class I
http://static.garmin.com/pumac/LIDAR_Lite_v3_Operation_Manual_and_Technical_Speci fications.pdf
Hopefully the team will be able to put it to good use (suppose to ship in November).
edarzins
26-11-2016, 13:05
I just noticed that you can get this for $359, so it's now below the $400 FRC single-part threshold — yay!
http://www.robotshop.com/en/rplidar-a2-360-laser-scanner.html
marshall
26-11-2016, 13:14
I just noticed that you can get this for $359, so it's now below the $400 FRC single-part threshold — yay!
http://www.robotshop.com/en/rplidar-a2-360-laser-scanner.html
Beware that is has a "motor" that might or might not be classified as a servo depending on how you power it and if the inspector has had their coffee that morning.
Joe Ross
27-11-2016, 13:34
Beware that is has a "motor" that might or might not be classified as a servo depending on how you power it and if the inspector has had their coffee that morning.
No inspector, whether they've had their coffee or not, should confuse that with a "PWM COTS Servo" (R29), which has to be controlled by the PWM port on the roboRIO (R54, R68). The RPLIDAR does have an input for rotation speed, but it is not a RC PWM style input that can be driven by a roboRIO PWM port.
The question for Q/A is whether this counts as "Factory installed vibration and autofocus motors resident in COTS computing devices (e.g. rumble
motor in a smartphone)." (R29).
marshall
27-11-2016, 15:23
No inspector, whether they've had their coffee or not, should confuse that with a "PWM COTS Servo" (R29), which has to be controlled by the PWM port on the roboRIO (R54, R68). The RPLIDAR does have an input for rotation speed, but it is not a RC PWM style input that can be driven by a roboRIO PWM port.
The question for Q/A is whether this counts as "Factory installed vibration and autofocus motors resident in COTS computing devices (e.g. rumble
motor in a smartphone)." (R29).
I can tell you that as a team who has looked at using one of these from a Neato robot vacuum we were given very unclear inspector decisions around powering the motor via a PWM port and its legality in the past. I'm sure it is a point of debate (thankfully we never put one on a robot to test it).
I think that is an excellent clarification to seek though and I would hope this would be legal. I have a feeling it won't be because the Kinect has a similar type of motor and I believe we were told via the Q&A that it would need to be removed or disabled for the Kinect to be legal.
I think this particular rule and the one about COTS integrated batteries need further explanation. I still want to know if I have a programmable flashlight with a battery if it counts as a COTS computing device. ;)
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