Sign in / up

back to article iRobot inks deal for laser-radar droidvision sensors

iRobot, provider of ground warbots to the US forces and purveyor of domestic droids to the comfortably off consumer, has struck a deal allowing it to use laser-scanning technology in its future designs. Reports have it that the kit could be in use in 2009; though this would be with the military, not on the company's famous line …

COMMENTS

House rules Send corrections
This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Steve Charlton
    Joke

    Exterminate!

    Sorry, couldn't resist.

    0 0
  2. Robert Grant

    I call Laydar

    As being that special quality of knowing who nearby will sleep with you.

    0 0
  3. Steve
    Thumb Up

    Ladar

    Shouldn't it be Lidar as popularised in several different sci-fi series and multiple books.

    0 0
  4. Robert Ramsay

    Why on earth...

    ...is this being reported in the Christian Science Monitor?

    0 0
  5. Tom
    Paris Hilton

    @ Robert

    Yeah, I call refer to my ladar as my ability to spot targets before they've even appeared, bloody yanks ruining everthing as usual.

    0 0
  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You say Lidar...

    ...Lewis says Ladar

    If, as the first page of Google seems pretty much agrees on, RADAR derives from RAdio Detection And Ranging (which seems sensible, and the only controversy I can remember reading about is whether it's actually an acronym proper, which it isn't), then the laser version depends on whether you want to be specific about the distinction between Light and Laser

    "LIght Detection And Ranging" gives "LIDAR"

    "LAser Detection And Ranging" gives "LADAR"

    there isn't much of either in use currently, so it'll probably depend on the first widespread actual usage of the abbreviation, unless people get really vocal about it. LADAR is probably more accurate, but LIDAR is more phonetically distinct if you're in an environment where it's important to distinguish.

    They're both EMDAR or ELDAR, anyway.

    0 0
  7. Tim Hughes

    LIDAR, LADAR, let's call the whole thing off

    I think that LIDAR relates to light, and LADAR to lasers.

    0 0
  8. theotherone
    Jobs Horns

    and hows about...

    LARDAR for fat gits...

    0 0
  9. Richard Scratcher
    Coat

    Nothing new here...

    The Japanese have been using LADAR for years. A friend of mine says he used to service such devices at airports and various miritary instarrations.

    0 0
  10. Robert Moore
    Paris Hilton

    Obligatory Bender quote

    "I came here with a simple dream. A dream of killing all humans. And this is how it must end? Who's the real seven billion ton robot monster here? Not I, not I..."

    PH, because I believe it is a robot.

    0 0
  11. Andy Bright

    The 5-nanosecond pulses will be eye-safe..

    But not people safe and I think you know why. Radar my arse. Heat sensor more like, and it goes like this. Torch a fleshie, and you have a clear and precise heat sensitive marker.

    The frightening thought is that it'll only take 5ns to torch its interweb-controlled human slaves, which no doubt will be ordered into buildings to stand next to obstructions and either side of entrances.

    0 0
  12. Anton Ivanov
    Black Helicopters

    Re: You say Lidar...

    quote: there isn't much of either in use currently,

    Wrong actually. Russians have been playing with it for more than 10+ years now though from a completely different perspective. LiDAR is one of the few technological methods to allow the detection and precise identification of aerosols. They ran series of space experiments and they also have gone past acceptance testing for army equipment to detect biological and chemical weapons using this methods. By the way - they use the LiDAR abbreviation.

    I am surprised that the DARPA and QuinetiQ gravy trains have missed this boat.

    0 0
  13. Mage Silver badge
    Boffin

    Ultrasound

    due to the lower speed, 100KHz and up Ultrasound is equivalent to Microwave RADAR.

    100KHz sound = 3mm wavelength equivalent to 100GHz Radar.

    500KHz sound would be 0.6mm wavelength which would be excellent in room resolution.

    Ultrasound seems to have been stuck at about 50KHz max for the last 30 years. Is it simply not fashionable?

    Admittedly doppler shift is 1 Million times worse I think than light used for ranging.

    0 0
  14. umacf24

    @Why On Earth

    Because the CSM is an OK paper. The Mary Baker Eddy content is minimal. Last time I looked, the Washington Post was owned by the moonies and the NYT was still safely up its own wossname.....

    0 0
This topic is closed for new posts.