So tempted to buy a laser scanner

[Adrian Apps]

Hey Gav, what brand did you get again? Was it a Hokuyo such as the below, although I seem to recall you had the 5m...

http://www.acroname.com/products/R359-UST-10LX.html

[Gav]

Yep, it was a Hokuyo, but a slightly different model: 

http://www.acroname.com/products/R325-URG-04LX-UG01.html

(which is the cheapest one)

Hokuyo's are very well respected in industry, although there are probably some more competitors now. It was about 2 years ago I bought mine. 

Your link is better, if you have the budget. The difference between a 5m radius and a 10m radius can be pretty significant. If you consider the robot is effectively lost at sea every time it goes out of range of a wall, and starts recovering when it comes back to 'land', this would allow you to traverse much larger open spaces, (e.g. halls, basketball courts) while always keeping an eye on the wall. 40Hz update vs 10Hz for mine also means you can remove a lot more noise and update your position estimate faster. 

http://www.acroname.com/products/Hokuyo_Comparison_Chart.pdf

Also your one is an ethernet based laser rather than USB. The drivers in ROS will accept this no problem, but it might mean you have to put a hub or similar on your robot; 

http://wiki.ros.org/urg_node

Also, another trick which is worth mentioning is that a lot of robots 'nod' their laser using a servo or stepper motor. This allows you to scan in 3D either

The PR2 robot has a nodding laser under its chin which does this to allow building a map of the table or other areas it interacts with. 

http://www.willowgarage.com/pages/pr2/overview

Of course, given the PR2 cost around $400k USD, adding a second laser wasn't a big deal for them. 

For my money, I've put a single laser on the lower front of the robot, so it can do a flat scan,avoid obstacles and make maps, but I've added the ability to stop the robot and 'nod' the laser up and down to build up a 3D model of the environment. 

Next meetup I'll explain to anyone that's interested how ROS can make 3D models for you, and how most of the setup is done already. 

Cheers,

Gavin 

[Adrian Apps]

Good to know.

I imagine the nodder would work rather well with that frontier package you mentioned in another thread. http://wiki.ros.org/frontier_exploration Nod/Take a 3D scan while standing still, move to new safe position, nod again etc.

Time to save up I think...

[Adrian Apps]

I ended up purchasing a URG-04LX-UG01 that I found new on eBay for... wait for it... $599! So that will do me for the short term until I can save up enough for the 20m LIDAR haha.

[Gav]

Dang, that's a nice price!

[Adrian Apps]

Yeah, I was the only bidder, was very surprised to get it for that price :)

Also just bought one of the RPLIDAR units... 360 degrees was too tempting! Going to give Max's phone number to the wife if it comes up...

[Waqas Zia]

visit robotsinsearch.com.au they are exclusive distributors of Hokuyo In Australia and provide competitive prices with no shipping charges.