Rockin Sweet! How does the suspension system operate? Is it six wheel drive, or how many wheels drive? Does it four wheel steer, or how does it steer? What type of computer are you using? Are you building your own drive electronics, or are you using premade ones? *johnny 5 voice* Need Input! INput!
Anyhow, on the lidar part, unfortunately there's not a whole lot you can do about getting a cheap lidar unit. Many universities are in the market for them, so there's not a whole lot of reason for them to give you an educational discout. However, there are people I know who have managed to get a scratch-and-dent lidar unit from Sick at about 75% off. (which, brings you down to a not-much-more-manageable sum of $5,000
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What type of environment are you trying to nav in? Perhaps you can avoid using a lidar unit? Let us know! Mechanically it looks like a pretty cool machine.
-q