LIDAR

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.

Intel has launched the RealSense lidar camera L515, which it says is the smallest and most power-efficient, high resolution LiDAR camera in the world. It's also relatively inexpensive.

Taking inspiration from the traditional cane, a team of researchers has come up with a LiDAR-enabled robotic assistant which offers light-touch support for the mobility-impaired. Dubbed Canine, the device improves the user's spacial self-awareness, and thus, their walking stability.

Researchers from MIT and NASA's Langley Research Center have been modifying quadrotor drones to allow a fleet to work together to zip through the trees of a thick forest without the need for GPS navigation, talking to each other wirelessly as they fly.

​You might think that with all their cameras and other sensors, self-driving cars can handle any road in any location. That actually isn't the case, although it soon may be, thanks to MIT's new MapLite system.