Lidar
Light Detection and Ranging — a sensor that measures distance by timing how long laser pulses take to bounce off surfaces. Used in robot vacuums, AR headsets, smartphones, and self-driving systems.
Lidar fires laser pulses and measures the time-of-flight (or phase shift) of reflections to build a centimeter-accurate depth map of the surroundings.
In robot vacuums
A rotating lidar turret on top of the robot maps a room in real time, generating a top-down floor plan. Lidar-equipped robovacs navigate dramatically better than camera-only models — they can map a 3-bedroom apartment in one pass and resume from any starting point.
In smartphones (iPhone Pro)
A solid-state lidar dot projector + receiver pair lets the phone measure scene depth at video frame rates. Used for autofocus in low light, augmented reality, and accessibility features.
In AR/VR
Lidar enables inside-out tracking without external base stations and supports realistic occlusion of virtual objects by real-world geometry.