A LIDAR device (Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) is a device that emits infrared light rays that bounce off objects and helps us “see” what is around us. It is used in autonomous (and non-autonomous) cars and increasingly in many other applications related to automation.
It is a way of "seeing" our surroundings using light beams instead of microwave emissions as radar does, because the light beams are not harmful to people.
And within the applications of Lidar I have seen information from some North American students who have developed a system capable of "seeing" the situation of the road pavement and collecting that information to then proceed with its repair.
What until now has been done manually, is automated and done in a simple way, faster and much cheaper. They have called the Project Roadgnar and have already carried out their first tests with a prototype. All a success. You can see a photo below.
The Lidar sensor placed in the rear of the car visualizes the situation of the pavement, and at the same time obtains the position of the GPS signal, and decoders in the wheels that measure the depth of the potholes in the pavement.
Grouping all the information, there is a "video" of any road with the condition of its pavement and the precise position of the damage that exists on it. And all this is achieved by driving the car at low speed, which is much faster and less expensive than how it is done today.
The originality of this project carried out by 3 students from Massachusetts (USA) has aroused the interest of both users and industrialists interested in bringing it to market. I wish them the best, and it is one more example that creativity has no limits.
Our imagination and the desire to do things are the levers that move the world.
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