LIDAR

Autonomous vehicles operate in a complex environment, and recognizing traffic signs is an important part of that. A new microstructured material reflects light in rainbow rings, which can make traffic signs easier for computer vision systems to read.

Samsung is claiming a few world firsts with its latest robot vacuum cleaner. The Jet Bot AI+ is said to be the first to feature an active stereo-type 3D sensor for object detection, and the first equipped with Intel AI for object recognition.

Airtext has released a simple laser altimeter for small aircraft to make approaches and landings safer. The app-controlled Land-DAR (Land Distance and Ranging) is configured through an app and calls out altitudes as the aircraft descends.

Airbus is expanding the capabilities of its Flightlab helicopter designed to test out next-generation aviation technologies, by incorporating some advanced hardware geared toward autonomous flight, including LiDAR sensors from Luminar.

Self-driving cars typically use both LiDAR and radar to detect obstacles on the road ahead, yet neither system is adept at identifying vehicles through fog. Now, though, engineers have discovered that radar is good at the task if it's "doubled up."

There are now several robots that are designed to accompany and assist ground-based army troops. Those machines could soon have a new ability – detecting changes in the environment that may be missed by soldiers.

Decades ago, Arthur C. Clarke envisioned an "underwater telescope" that would allow users to look down from the surface of the ocean, into its inky depths. Well, such a capability has come a step closer to reality, utilizing existing technology.

Volvo has today announced that its next-generation of vehicles will come with the option of LiDAR sensors built into the roof, which will be used to guide the cars down stretches of highway all on their own.

Next-gen 3D cameras are on the way, capable of rendering spatial images in unprecedented resolution and speed. The MegaX research camera captures single-photon light levels at up to 24,000 frames per second, paving the way for safer autonomous cars.

Archaeologists have used laser technology to map a 100-km (62-mile) Maya stone road that could have been built 1,300 years ago to help with the invasion of an isolated city in modern-day Mexico at the command of the warrior queen Lady K’awiil Ajaw.

The Trijicon Ventus looks like a set of binoculars, but in actuality it's the world's first hand-held device capable of providing three-dimensional wind data at multiple points between a shooter and a target up to 500 yards (457 m) away.

Glamos is a tiny device that uses LIDAR technology to project a kind of virtual touchscreen anywhere one is needed, turning TVs and projectors into giant motion-controlled displays that you don’t need to actually touch.