Awesome

OpenSimpleLidar

Open Hardware scanning laser rangefinder.
Its parameters:

5 scans/second
180 measurements per rotation (2 deg anglular resolution)
Maximum distance - 4 m
Measured accuracy ~3-5 cm at 3 m (depends upon the color of reflecting surface).

This device is really cheap - its components cost less than $30.
UPD from 2023: Cost of the image sensor TSL1401CL increased very mush, so total price can be higher!
See "TotalBOM" with price calculations.

Now I'm updating the documentation for this LIDAR.
Some of it I'm writing to the project wiki: https://github.com/iliasam/OpenSimpleLidar/wiki

Please take the simple survey about assembling instructions

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Utility for displaying "radar" scans from the working Lidar:
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Example of Hector SLAM working with this Lidar:
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This Lidar is using triangulation method for measuring distance to objects. It can be shown by this picture:
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Some modeled pictures of the assembled Lidar can be found here: https://github.com/iliasam/OpenSimpleLidar/tree/master/Misc/Pictures/

Some more info: https://hackaday.io/project/20628-opensimplelidar

Video of using OpenSimpleLidar for Autonomous Robot Navigation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHt_NTktmlA

See also my previous LIDAR project: https://github.com/iliasam/OpenLIDAR
If you need LIDAR with increased speed and range, see this project: https://github.com/iliasam/OpenTOFLidar

Please leave your feedback if you will be able to build this Lidar - I need more feedback about assembing instructions.