LiDAR

Light Detection and Ranging — a sensor that measures distances by emitting laser pulses and timing their reflections. In robotics, 2D LiDAR (Hokuyo, RPLIDAR) provides planar scans for SLAM and obstacle avoidance; 3D LiDAR (Velodyne, Ouster, Livox) generates dense point clouds for autonomous vehicles and outdoor mobile robots. Key specs include range, angular resolution, scan rate, and multi-return capability.