LIDAR is a way to use light to measure distance. The term was originally a portmanteau of light and radar, but has since been “backronymed” to Light Imaging, Detection, and Ranging or LIght Detection And Ranging. Believe it or not, the
technology originated shortly after the invention of lasers,
and has been used to map the surface of the moon during
Apollo, help robots avoid running into obstacles, and create
models of objects and nature for scientists.
Like all technology, the price of instruments has come
down with time. While still expensive, they became
affordable for street mapping vehicles, self-driving cars, and
eventually for land surveying. The Sweep is an effort at
bringing the price point of a basic LIDAR to the
consumer/hobbyist level.
The Sweep launched on Kickstarter where I initially
backed it, thinking it would be a fun exercise to play with
for mapping. As a caver, I’ve experimented with both laser
and ultrasonic mapping of caves in the past with mixed
results. I was especially excited when Scanse announced a
3D scanner kit for the
Sweep, and they agreed to
send me one of the first
production units to try out.
This month, we’ll go
through the kit assembly
process, install the
software, and take a few
scans. I tested the scanner
indoors as well as outdoors
to really get a feel for how
it performs in a variety of
environments.
I also verified the
accuracy of measurements
by comparing the Sweep’s
measurements to actual
measurements of rooms in my home.
Unboxing
The kit arrived in a surprisingly large box, but the extra
space was used to pack everything very well. The Sweep
sensor itself is in a very nice professionally printed box with
foam cutouts. It comes with a connector and USB interface.
Standing alone, the Sweep sensor (Figure 1) will produce
2D scans of a space. Playing with it in my office, I was able
to determine how full each shelf of books was on a
bookcase a few meters away. What I was especially excited
for was getting the scanner assembled and producing some
3D maps of spaces! The Scanner kit consists of some
breakout PCBs (printed circuit boards) from Adafruit, USB
cables, a stepper motor, micro switch, SD card, and some
hardware (Figure 2). There is also a Raspberry Pi with a
USB battery (Figure 3), and three 3D printed enclosure
components
(Figure 4).
The
Multi-Rotor
Hobbyist
Scanse Sweep 3D Scanner
Review
By John Leeman
Lasers and robots — how any good project, story, or article begins. I recently got the chance to try out
the Scanse Sweep and their 3D scanning kit. The Sweep puts the power of LIDAR in your hands.
Applications range from obstacle avoidance to mapping of new areas. We’ll assemble this brand new kit
and take some scans in a variety of environments to see how this affordable sensor stacks up.
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magazine/issue/2017/09.
Figure 1: The Sweep sensor itself is a nice
compact unit that scans a laser range finder
through a full circle, returning range and
bearing information.
Figure 2: The components packages for the kit are
nicely grouped and well packed. There are a lot of
components in a complex electromechanical kit like
the Sweep 3D scanner.
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