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SICK Laser Rangefinder (LIDAR) Disassembled
December 15, 2008 by Travis Deyle
I've always wanted to pull apart a SICK laser rangefinder (LIDAR). However, the $6k price-tag (and advisor repercussions) have always been a sufficient deterrent. Well, Kyle Vogt of MIT has disassembled what looks to be a SICK LMS-210 -- perhaps his was already broken? Anyway, the internal design is surprisingly simple. It's interesting to look at the internals of such iconic piece of robotics hardware. Read on for more images.
Laser rangefinders have had a tremendous impact on robotics, and the SICK series of laser rangefinders is perhaps the most recognizable (SICK LMS 210, LMS 291, and PLS 100/200 pictured below).
They're a common fixture on many robotic platforms, especially DARPA Grand Challenge vehicles. Of course, the SICK is not the only lidar around; numerous competitors have popped up, such as the Velodyne (below left) and a number of capable Hokuyo laser rangefinders (the four pictured below on the right available from Acroname). Generally my preferences have drifted toward the Hokuyo line, which are lower-cost, better form-factor, and have lower power requirements, but the SICK line is steadily re-gaining ground.
OK, OK... enough talk. Here are Kyle Vogt's SICK internals!
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This is the SICK with it's cover off. You can clearly see the motor (copper colored piece) that spins the primary mirror. This mirror scans the laser beam, coming from the laser module positioned in the middle of the "U-shaped" PCB, across the environment to obtain time-of-flight (TOF) ranges. |
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Here is another angle of the SICK internals. This image is taken along the plane of the scan. Now the laser module is a little more clearly visible. |
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Here, you can see the optical encoder assembly. I'm actually rather surprised that they've used such a simple "slotted-switch" assembly rather than a quality (high-res) encoder on the motor shaft. Oh well, the guys at SICK probably have a good reason (cost or robustness). |
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Finally, here is a look at (one of) the circuit boards. Based on Kyle's comments, the Infineon chip is an ASIC, and the Xilinx part is (clearly) an FPGA. Apparently these units are not produced in large enough quantities to justify a full VLSI solution. This makes me think that the day of the super low-cost (hobbyist) laser rangefinder may not be as far away as I imagined! |
Well, those are the most telling pictures, though there are more images of the PCBs and the laser diode module on Kyle's website.
Oh, and if anyone has internal pictures of the other laser rangefinder models, please do let me know in the comments.
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Comments
1:32 am
11:15 am
Hey Kyle,
Wow, I really admire your courage to open up a functional SICK...
I was basing my model number prediction on the blue color of the SICK in the photo on your website. I thought the LMS291 was universally a beige color (I have one sitting on my desk), and that the LMS200 was typically blue. But upon closer inspection, the SICK parts shown above have the characteristic beige color, so I do believe your part number is correct -- this is a LMS 291.
Either way, I definitely enjoyed the pictures -- here in our lab we've been talking about doing something similar for some time, but no one was willing to risk it...
11:43 pm
Fantastic lineup of LIDAR systems!
I want to recommend you also add ibeo to your lineup. I don't have any internal photos but I did do a write-up of it back home at RobotCentral (http://robotcentral.com/2007/11/15/sensor-technology-may-optimize-driving/). The interview and photos were conducted at the DARPA Urban Challenge. Ibeo has a complete system built on top of their unit and it's ready-to-go for application developers and each unit is expected to cost right around $300 when it hits mass production.
ZMP Inc (a Japanese company) recently introduced a Car Robotics Platform that includes a laser rangefinder. What's interesting is that the entire platform, including the rangefinder, is priced at about $5.5KUSD. It's unclear whether their embedded LRF sweeps or not.
I just discovered your blog today and immediately added it to the top of my RSS list.
This is how a blog is done! Kudos on the completeness of your articles!
5:21 pm
Hey Ray,
Thanks for the pointers -- I am (vaguely) familiar with the Ibeo line of laser rangefinders, but have yet to actually see one in operation. I was previously unfamiliar with ZMP, but will check it out too. In my experience, most of the academic LRFs are from the SICK LMS series or of the Hokuyo variety.
I'd certainly be very excited to see some quality LIDARs in the sub-$500 range; then I might be able to justify purchasing a few for personal use! This reminds me of a paper at ICRA 2008 about a sub-$30 laser range finder being developed by Silicon Valley robotics startup Neato Robotics. I'd really like to learn more about their plans and aspirations for their laser range finder...
Oh, and thanks for the kind words about Hizook. I also appreciate your work at Robot Central, which is included in my (excessively large) list of RSS feeds.
8:12 am
Very cool. My Lidar bought in 1991 for robot guidance cost $120,000 and ran on the VME bus inside a $90,000 SGI 310 VGX. We used it for robot guidance generating 3D imagery for differetial geometry based path generation. This is a good old technology that can be widely used if cheap and safe. My Lidar was strong enough to damage eyes. Hope the mirror stability goes up and the costs continue to go down. I question the safety of a device that can be used for meaningful robot guidance over a several meter ambiguity interval.
Still very cool, my last robot: http://myrobotworld.spaces.live.com
5:53 am
Hi ,
Some pics and a video of my lidar that I opened up to share with you guys (Lidar Model : STI os3100). This is the lidar I used for the Techx 2008 competition held in singapore:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018431&id=1211301187&l=a7489
http://www.facebook.com/v/1108663716075
10:11 pm
Thanks Yue. I've written a new blog post on the STI OS3100, here.
11:47 am
Hi,
Do you know the Rockwell laser sensor, the SAFEZONE™ MULTIZONE SAFETY LASER SCANNER?
http://www.ab.com/en/epub/catalogs/3377539/5866177/3377569/6388297/3383633/3383653/
Has it ever been used in robotics?
10:07 pm
2:19 am
@ Kelly,
A quick Google search for "site:sick.com cad model" leads to the SICK parterns program, where they state:
It looks like you might try contacting them directly.
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