Handy rangefinder for active robot vision

A compact and high-speed rangefinding system which is applicable to active robot vision is described. The principle of depth measurement is based on the space encoding method. Spatial coded patterns of light are generated by a semiconductor laser. A slit-ray of the laser is scanned by a rotating polygonal mirror and switched according to temporal switching patterns. Each pattern of light is generated, and its reflected image is taken by a CCD camera, in one image frame with no lag time. A 512/spl times/256 range map is obtained continuously every 0.2 seconds.