To do something useful on a FIRST field does it have to be able to be a long distance, or would 3.5m 3D, or 6m 2D be useful? The 3.5 meter range of a the 3D structure sensor (
http://structure.io/, $398) be useful in building up a SLAM representation of the portion of the field the robot can actually have an impact on and possibly do something useful.
Also would the 6 Meters 2D sensing range of the RPLidar provide some useful capability in being able to provide positioning of the robot? (
http://www.roborealm.com/help/RoboPeak_RPLidar.php , $399)
I think I vaguely heard laser distance sensors were not good on a FRC field because of some kind of interference they caused with other robots, will this be a problem with a LIDAR sensor on a robot? Or, with the scattered laser -- and therefor brief interference that a LIDAR laser might cause -- would not cause problems with other robots. If two robots had LIDAR sensors it seems only a few stray data points might be created occasionally, so it seems it would not be a problem.
Last year was my first FRC year and it seems to me that LIDAR getting in the price range of FRC is new, but also actually being able to use LIDAR in a way that provides advantage on the field would be difficult. But it is very intriguing.