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This uses an updated version of the LIDAR-Lite sensor on a rotating mount. $245 is an impressive price -- backed!

From the Kickstarter campaign:

We wanted a scanning LiDAR for our projects and couldn’t find anything that was powerful enough and easy to use for a price we could afford. Comparable sensors are $1000 and up, so we set out to develop one ourselves.

We’re raising money on Kickstarter to manufacture Sweep so we can get them into the hands of makers, roboticists, drone enthusiasts and students. We’re really excited about making scanning LiDAR available to everyone!

Use Sweep for sense and avoid as well as navigation mapping. We'll provide all the tools needed to start developing more autonomy into your drone. 

 "At Dispatch, we are very excited by Sweep. LiDAR is a very powerful sensing modality and low-cost LiDAR will have significant impact as we develop and grow our autonomous vehicle fleet."

Uriah Baalke Dispatch Robotics

"The Sweep is a great fit for high school robotics. It is easy to setup and use, robust, and is at an incredible price point. Students can quickly explore mapping and navigation problems with little prior experience. Best yet, the Sweep is virtually student-proof – it can survive a high school lab environment."   

Charles Williams Mentor, Cupertino High School Robotics

Combining technology and art can produce really fun and interesting pieces. Use Sweep to detect where someone is or activate different components to make your next art project interactive!

Have you ever wanted to quickly get the dimensions of a room? Measuring tapes are a hassle! Use Sweep to quickly grab a room's dimensions in a couple seconds. 

Security / People Tracking

Sweep can be used to create a "virtual curtain", meaning it will sense anything that interrupts a particular area. Use it to detect when someone walks through a doorway or tries to touch something they shouldn't! You can also use Sweep to track people moving within a space. Perhaps you want to have your smart lights switch off when you leave a room and before you enter another.

Whatever you can imagine!

Sweep is already useful for several applications, but there are so many more that haven't been discovered yet and we're super excited to see what you come up with!

 What makes Sweep different?

Sweep utilizes a sensing technique that differs from most other LiDAR on the market, which allows us to use lower power components to perform long range measurements. This lowers the cost of the components, but requires more time per measurement. Sweep is the first commercial scanning LiDAR that utilizes this technology.

Sweep is designed to be modular! As we continue to improve the capabilities of the sensor module, we'll be able to offer upgrades without the need to replace the entire scanner. 

 

Specifications

The scanning capabilities of the Sweep allow you to adjust the rotation speed on the fly so you can slow it down for more detail, or speed it up for fast reaction times.  

Sweep uses a laser that has been tested to be eye safe (even if you decide to stare at it straight on - not advised).  It operates in the infrared spectrum which is invisible to the human eye.

Communicating with Sweep is really simple! We're including our small adapter for those who want to connect to any computer using USB. If you want to connect Sweep to lower level controllers, just hook it up directly to UART. 

We designed Sweep to be very small and light! It fits right in the palm of your hand and weighs a tad less than most smart phones today. Sweep is also really quiet, something you may have never thought about until you've used one that makes annoying sounds as it spins. You won't be hearing this scanner. 

For more detailed info checkout the datasheet here:

What each Sweep Scanner includes

Scanse Visualizer

Our visualizer allows you to view the sensor data (like this room with someone walking around above), record and playback data, change settings, and update the firmware. It will be available on Linux, Windows, and OS X. 

ROS Support

We’ve already developed a ROS driver for Sweep as well as an example publisher node to start using Sweep in ROS right away.

SDK: python, javascript, C/C++

Using Sweep in your own project starts with the SDK. We're developing drivers for several major languages and will be creating example projects for platforms like Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and more. 

Example Projects / Drivers

These software projects and drivers are already in development and will be released as soon as they are complete.

Pixhawk autopilot driver: This driver will make available the angle and distance for the centroid of nearest object bodies within range. This uses a special mode with Sweep and does not require additional processing by the flight controller.

National Instruments roboRIO driver: This driver will provide the complete scan data on each complete rotation which can then be used to guide a robot.

Movement Tracker: This example application for the Raspberry Pi will allow you to track moving bodies within a space. Set threshold areas to activate or deactivate when entering or leaving them. Trigger an IFTTT recipe using the Maker Channel to do things like turn lights or security systems on/off.

Room Dimensions: This example application for the Raspberry Pi will output room measurements with centimeter accuracy.

Kickstarter Funding

We have three main goals for this kickstarter project:

• Kick off production - pay for tooling / high volume component orders
• Continue development of our visualizer application 
• Develop more useful example projects like the ones mentioned above and more!

We are committed to delivering a high quality product. We have a beta tester community that has been giving valuable feedback on our development units. Once we get production units from our contract manufacturer, we will go through another round of development tests before shipping to our customers.  

We have a long standing relationship with our PCB manufacturer that has produced quality boards from the beginning and will continue to produce our boards for production.

The majority of our product will be made from high strength injection molded plastic. We have extensive experience designing injection molded components, and will be using a mold house that has produced high quality parts for us in the past.

Timeline