Looking to reduce space and weight options for drones and robotics, Sony Electronics Inc. has rolled out what it claims is the world’s smallest and lightest lidar depth sensor.
Measuring 29 mm x 29 mm x 31 mm, the AS-DT1 sensor uses Sony’s miniaturization and optical lens technologies for machine vision industrial cameras.
The sensor includes direct time of flight (dToF) lidar module equipped with a single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) technology that uses multiple ranging points for distance measurement and accurately measure distances in three dimensions — length, width and depth.
The sensor can accurately measure distances in a variety of environments such as retail stores where object avoidances like people and fixtures would be needed for robotics working in a store. The ability to measure both indoors and outdoors would make this lidar suitable for robots in restaurants or autonomous mobile robots in a warehouse or food delivery. For drones, it would allow the devices to avoid obstacles in inspections and surveys.
Measurement distance
The AS-DT1 sensor can measure at various distances. It can measure at about 32 ft with a margin of nearly 2 inches both indoors and outdoors. It can also measure distances to various objects with low reflectivity and floating objects. This makes it suitable for robots in environments like stores or warehouses.
Additionally, the range is supported up to about 131 ft indoors and about 65 ft outdoors under bright sunshine.
