Tag Archives: LiDAR

Outdoor Rover Series: JRover Sensors, Hardware and Software – DPRG Virtual Monthly Meeting, Apr 10th, 2021

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Meeting Video:

Chat Record:  Chat record (PDF)

• Join Hangouts Meet https://meet.google.com/hey-jxuo-esf
• Join by phone ‪[masked]‬ ‬ PIN: ‪[masked] #‬
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This month we have a special guest presentation by Jesse Brockmann. Jesse, a brand ambassador with Sparkfun, will discuss his multi-year award winning rover and software known as JRover.

The talk will cover everything from encoders, IMUs, RTK GPS, various environment sensors such as LiDAR, mm-radar, ultrasonics, cameras and radar. Jesse will also cover topics such as chassis choices, batteries and power regulation. The presentation will give you an inside look at Jesse’s rover development methods over the last 10+ years, with a fun look at JRover’s failures and successes. Learn what makes for a good rover, and suggestions on how to improve your own rovers.

For more information on rovers please goto http://diyrovers.com/ and join the DIYRovers google group with 200+ members.

About DPRG Monthly Meetings
DPRG hosts cool presentations each month during its regular membership meeting. These meetings and presentations are open to public and free to attend. We hope to see you online. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Note: we do record a video of these sessions and post them on the DPRG YouTube channel. By joining the meeting you’re giving consent to be included in the recording.

About DPRG
Dallas Personal Robotics Group has been actively building robots for fun since 1984. We meet every Tuesday evening and every 2nd Saturday, and frequently participate in community events.
In normal times we meet at the Dallas MakerSpace. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we have met virtually using Google meet.  Our virtual meetings have attendees from multiple countries and locations in the USA. We always welcome guests of all ages and skill levels!

Practical LiDAR for Hobbyist Roboticists

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Scott’s slide deck: slide deck (PDF)

Followers of DPRG’s competitions are familiar with Scott Gibson’s very successful robot CanMan. CanMan utilizes a spinning LiDAR manufactured  by RPLidar (~$100). In competitions where the arena is bounded by walls, CanMan’s LiDAR allows the robot to reacquire its location even after a collusion with walls or other robots.

At the October 12th DPRG monthly meeting Scott is going to share how you can add a similar LiDAR to your robot. The presentation will take a quick look at the serial interface and data fields used by the RPLidar unit, and then dive deep into how to use this data.

Scott will discuss the algorithms and code that he uses to:

  • Find the center of the arena,
  • Align to an arena wall,
  • Detect an outside edge,
  • Detect an inside edge.

This is a great opportunity to learn about how to use a spinning LiDAR unit.

The meeting is at the Dallas Maker Space and starts at Noon on Saturday, October 12th.

LiDAR Overview – Monthly Meeting – April 14th, 2018

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The April monthly meeting topic was LiDAR. Carl Ott led the meeting by presenting an LiDAR overview. Carl was followed by Doug Paradis, who discussed the ST VL53L0X and VL53L1X sensor boards available to the hobbyist roboticist. Doug also presented some data from tests he conducted on the Benewake TF-mini LiDAR unit that had just came out at the time of this presentation.

The meeting was held on April 14th, 2018 at the Dallas Maker Space starting at noon.

NOTE: This post was added at a later date to preserve the history of the club’s presentations.