An intelligent low-cost scanning range finder

In this paper, we present an intelligent, low-cost scanning range finder for collision avoidance on systems with limited processing power. Our range finder is made low cost and computationally efficient by taking into consideration the actual planning needs for local obstacle avoidance algorithms to dynamically select the area to sample range measurements from. We present a modified version of Trajectory Rollout which takes into account the limited sensory, and present a sensory sampling strategy based on the needs of this trajectory planner. Finally, we present the construction and deployment of the sensor on a robot in both telepresence and autonomous operation.