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End of August to-do list

A project log for Open LIDAR

This project is to build a motorized gimbal mount to convert a laser distance module into a 3d LIDAR.

caveradamcaver.adam 08/31/2016 at 12:592 Comments

There's a lot of things that need to get done in order to make this work. I've been putting a list together for myself but figured I'd share and see if people had suggestions for things that might be more critical than I have been thinking.

My objective is to complete a functional version of the build before I worry about testing, optimizing, and beautifying. So I'm not bothering to include later steps like, "sharks with freaking laser beams".

Discussions

caver.adam wrote 09/06/2016 at 16:10 point

Interesting article. It's a bit much for my current project goals. But once I get a more finalized design I hope other people will be involved and forking the project for their own uses. 

I've also looked at mechaduino and want to add that to the next version of the gimbal if I can. But I started with different motors because I was worried about delivery timelines. So this time I'm using a $1 magnet and a $5 hall effect to set the start point. Next time it will be awesome to upgrade to mechaduino.

I'm wiring the thing for a standard 9dof module that uses the sda/scl pins on the arduino. 6dof sensors should work just fine too. But I'm taking this in baby steps. I don't need a 6dof sensor to capture a lidar image at all. So I'm not working on it until I figure out the quality of the lidar image and fix any issues. I'm more worried about stepper jitter right now than I am about which direction the device is facing.

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Andrew Nambudripad wrote 09/06/2016 at 15:45 point

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1511.06434.pdf This might help applied with the LIDAR output. (Matching architectural components to ImageNet that is) Are you intending on keeping 100% Faro compatibility i.e. SCENE etc ?  For smooth movement - http://hackaday.com/2016/06/01/mechaduino-closed-loop-stepper-servos-for-everyone/  I've never used Faro but it seems frigging cool.  I know a bit about optics (and micropositioning in 2-axis as well as a bit of structural e, mech e, compe, and ee [just a lot of knowledge without very much depth haha!] so if you have any questions publicly ask them! I.e., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_platform is 6 DOF -- easy to build, probably fairly easy to buy on ebay (labs that need seismic insulation for instrumentation often build platforms based on that architecture - when they upgrade, metrology grade equipment goes for pennies on the dollar)

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