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 much, so total price can be higher!
See "TotalBOM" with price calculations.

See project wiki for more info: https://github.com/iliasam/OpenSimpleLidar/wiki

Please take the simple survey about assembling instructions

Utility for displaying "radar" scans from the working Lidar:

Example of Hector SLAM working with this Lidar:

This Lidar is using triangulation method for measuring distance to objects. It can be shown by this picture:

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.