Sorry it took a little bit to reply to my own post, been really busy at work. I swear I saw something about it in the parallax forums somewhere. It may not be an LRF so to speak but Im sure one of the parallax guys (sorry dont know names yet) mentioned a sensor based off a laser for object detection.
My guess is no. A laser range finder is way out of the price range of normal parallax products (with the exception of the QuadRover.) At several thousand dollars a piece (for the cheapest), and the huge amount of data that they can produce (perhaps ten scans a second, 360 distances measured, a word of resolution: 7200 bytes.), it is a bit beyond the hobbyist that Parallax pitches to. Of course, that's for a scanning laser.
Maybe I was wrong about it being laser based ( its been known to happen lol) but I swear I saw a post from one of the engineers about a new sensor that will be released for object detection. Thanks for all the feedback though!
Ah ha! I didn't believe you, but a quote from the new Parallax catalog:
Parallax Catalog 2009 Pg 37 said...
A: Right now I'm in the process of designing a low cost laser range finder for Parallax. There are lots of high-end, very expensive laser range finders available on the market, but none that are easily integrable into hobbyist or robotics projects...I have a long way to go and it's a very challenging project, but hopefully people will enjoy it and use it as a building block in their own projects.
I confirm SRLM's post. It's been under development for well over a year now. Joe Grand finishes his product designs every time so you can count on seeing this in 2009.
Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.
Post Edited (Ken Gracey (Parallax)) : 1/13/2009 4:46:24 AM GMT
Woho! I've shopped around for some, and the cheapest that I've seen is four digits (USD). I've looked at how to make some (notably sniper king's ultra long distance version) and been amazed at the complexity. Something like thousands of a picosecond and exact mirror images... I just want something as simple as the ping, and within a reasonable price range. Something less than $200 dollars would be great, but personally I might be willing to shell out $300 if it's worth it. Can't wait!
ive seen a few robots with laser rangefinders homemade for under 20 dollars made to work with so software algorithms of the dot size// ill see if i can turn out a link.
As SRLM pointed out the parallax 2009 product catalog has a q/a with Joe Grand, there he confirms he is working on a low cost laser range finder. Here is the link to the Q/A where he talks about it a bit. I too can't wait for this thing!
SRLM said...
Ah ha! I didn't believe you, but a quote from the new Parallax catalog:
Parallax Catalog 2009 Pg 37 said...
A: Right now I'm in the process of designing a low cost laser range finder for Parallax. There are lots of high-end, very expensive laser range finders available on the market, but none that are easily integrable into hobbyist or robotics projects...I have a long way to go and it's a very challenging project, but hopefully people will enjoy it and use it as a building block in their own projects.
That's Joe Grand speaking. Can't wait!
Yes! That's what I was looking for! I thought I had seen it on the website but it was actually in the catalog. I'll have to check out Joe Grand's website and see what he's got on it.
As For the other links suggested, they all provided some interesting information. Thank you one and all.
Comments
Where did you read about the possibility of Parallax coming out with a Laser Range Finder?
Regards,
TCIII
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If you are going to send·a Robot·to save the world, you·better make sure it likes it the way it is!
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PG
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To make something work one must build, test, and verify bfore proceding.· -- myself
That's Joe Grand speaking. Can't wait!
Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.
Post Edited (Ken Gracey (Parallax)) : 1/13/2009 4:46:24 AM GMT
·http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/cat/2009ParallaxCatalog.pdf#page=39
Post Edited (KB3JJG) : 1/18/2009 4:11:55 PM GMT
As For the other links suggested, they all provided some interesting information. Thank you one and all.
- Roger
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