In the rapidly evolving world of technology, LiDAR sensors have become indispensable tools for precision measurement and mapping across various industries. When integrated on an autonomous mobile robot, LiDAR sensors provide data, often in the form of 3D pointclouds, that is essential for tasks such as obstacle detection and tracking, localization, and 3D mapping. In this sensor spotlight, we’ll take an in-depth look at the Seyond Robin W, examining its key features, highlights, and potential applications in the world of mobile robotics.
Seyond Inc. was founded in 2016 in Silicon Valley with a vision to provide market leading LiDAR sensors. Their line of LiDARS are designed for reliability in harsh environments and have been used in a wide variety of applications. They have proven their manufacturing expertise by using a highly automated manufacturing process to ship over 300,000 LiDAR units to date. We are excited to partner with Seyond to bring their LiDARS to the world of mobile robotics. Both the Falcon and the new Robin W are now available via our online store and as an option on robot integrations.
Integrator mounting Robin W LiDAR on Clearpath’s Warthog mobile robot.
The Robin W’s field-of-view and pointcloud density make it ideal for perception tasks like terrain characterization in off-road environments.
Highlights of the Seyond LiDAR Robin W
The Robin W LiDAR is a high performance directional LiDAR ideal for many robotics applications. It offers a wide field-of-view (120×70°), short minimum distance (0.1m), high resolution data (1.6 million points per second spread over 192 scan lines), low power draw of under 9W, and for a price that is competitive with 16 beam 360° lidars available to consumers.
On the technical side, the Robin W has many of the features that roboticists have come to expect, such as a web UI for data preview/configuration/firmware upgrades, options for multiple-returns per point, per-point timestamping, and time synchronization via PTP.
Seyond’s Robin W LiDAR is ready for integration on Clearpath mobile robotic platforms with the drivers for both ROS1 and ROS2 available in binary format (Noetic & Humble).
In this example, two Clearpath employees are bouncing a ball back and forth at varying distances to illustrate how the Robin’s dense pointcloud can be used for obstacle detection and tracking. View from the Seyond Robin W (left), 360° spinning LiDAR (center), and camera (right).
What Makes the Seyond Robin W Stand Out?
The Seyond Robin W is a directional LiDAR that provides a larger number of scan lines (192), compared to standard 16/32 beam LiDARs at a similar price point. This allows for much higher quality of object detection than other LiDARs. The Robin W’s compact form factor makes it easy to integrate on mobile robotics, even on Clearpath’s smaller models (e.g., Jackal).
The following table outlines the pros and cons of directional and 360° LiDARs.
| Pros of Directional | Pros of 360° |
|---|---|
| Excellent for capturing very dense point cloud data in a certain direction and tasks like terrain classification or obstacle detection, especially small objects, e.g., pedestrian tracking or debris detection. |
Better coverage for mapping and more resilient in LiDAR odometry applications. |
| Cons of Directional | Cons of 360° |
| No sensor when driving backwards for obstacle detection. | Sections of the 360° data are often obstructed by the robot or other sensors on the robot.
Vertical field of view is typically worse (e.g., 30°) resulting in sensing dead zones around the robot. Generally lower resolution point cloud data. |
Check out the video capture comparison between the Seyond Robin W LiDAR (left), 360° spinning LiDAR (center), and camera view (right):
The Robin W stands out as a great choice for those seeking exceptional performance without breaking the bank. Experience its capabilities firsthand with the samples now available, and mass production set to kick off in Q4 2024. Whether you’re upgrading your current setup or embarking on a new project, the Robin W offers a blend of value and performance that’s hard to beat. To learn more about Seyond products, visit our store or contact us.