The Lidar-Lite Ranging Sensor

Currently, I am working with the new PulsedLight Lidar-Lite range sensor, a small Laser emitter/receiver that can measure distance in one direction.  It is a terrific sensor that I bought for only $89 on-line.  A typical Lidar sensor is usually in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars, so this is quite a bargain, and something that the at-home maker can afford.  Not only is it cheap, it als has terrific accuracy and works with both PWM and I2C.

As of right now, I am writing a couple of libraries in Python and C++ to interface with the Lidar-Lite via I2C.  My work is currently posted here. Most of my experimentation has been using a Raspberry Pi with Rasbian Wheezy.  The idea is to make these libraries portable and then use them on a Robot Operating System (ROS) project, down the road.  Once the library is finished, I will post a quick tutorial on how to use it.   PusledLight also has a great repository of Arduino sketches for use the Lidar-Lite here.  I have tried them out and they work great.  Check it out!