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Emerging Technology Case Study

- A look at how LiDAR can be used for on-location workplaces

Technology: LiDAR and RGB Camera Based 3D Sensors

Using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and depth cameras, compact and easily accessible 3D sensors can be built, like Microsoft’s Kinect and Occipital’s Structure sensor. The infrared projectors and detectors capture depth data, and the RGB cameras capture the colors and add textures.  With the help of either a mobile or desktop application, these sensors can create 3D scans of desired objects or make 3D maps of the surroundings. This technology has been used for Xbox’s motion tracking, AR/VR SLAM, and body scanning for medical purposes. 

For this case study, we are going to focus on Occipital’s Structure Sensor, because it is a significantly smaller unit compared to the Kinect. The Structure Sensor can be easily attached to the back of an iPhone or an iPad, and the user could easily make 3D scans of an object or an environment. For the fisrt generation of Structure Sensor, it has to be used with a iPad/iPhone because the sensor itself does not have a RGB camera. For the later generations, Occipital added RGB cameras to their sensor, so that it does not have to depend on an external RGB camera to opperate, which highly compatibility and hackability of the Structure Sensor.

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Audience Intention 

The intended audience for the Structure Sensor is developers, early adaptors, and anyone else who needs an easy solution of making a 3D scan. The audience needs an accurate 3D scan of either an object or a 3D map of an environment. The audience wants the scanner to be easily accessible, cheap, and easy to use. The audience does not intend to have much emotional engagement with the technology. The audience’s motivation is to make something tangible out of it – either a 3D model that can be 3D-prited, an interactive 3D map, or an application that uses either component. 

Value Offering 

The Structure Sensor offers a compact-sized 3D sensor that is very easy to use, hackable, and compatible with many devices. It can be used with any mobile device, it is highly portable, and it can be moved around quite easily. It can generate a relatively accurate 3D scan or mapping, which often times needs to be manually cleaned-up. Although it can be considered affordable, the newest $500 sensor is definitely not cheap.
 

Interaction – 3D scanning

I tried to use the Structure Sensor to make a 3D model of an object. The quality of the interaction is mostly positive. It was impressive how it worked with an iPhone without the standard setup with either a bracket or a case that secures it to the back of the device. It is a big positive how hackable the setup is. For a temporary solution, the user could simply tape the sensor to the back of a phone. On the downside, the RGB camera needed a lot of light in order to calibrate, which was not accessible inside of the lab. As the result, the color and the texture of the model leaves something to be desired. Overall, the user interface was very easy to navigate, you can choose “depth”, “color”, or “depth + color” when you are scanning. After the scan is complete, you can simply and easily send the file to yourself via email. The user could modify the 3D scan with other applications afterwards.

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Applications

On-location
This technology can be applied to on-location workplace in many different ways. The first area that this could be applied to is safety. This can either be vehicle safety for rideshare drivers, or safety on construction sites. For road safety, many autonomous vehicles already utilize LiDAR to generate 3D maps. It can detect any changes in the environment at the same time that it is happening, and the computer can respond in a faster time than human and ensure road safety for everyone. The same concept can also be implemented on construction sites: theoretically LiDAR can detect any changes in the environment, and if there are any anomalies, it can inform workers before anything bad actually happens. 

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Workplace in General
There are a lot of ways that this technology can be used in the workplace in general. LiDAR and sensors like Structure Sensors are already being used in AR/VR SLAM, which could easily be implemented in different kinds of workplaces. For example, the Misty Robotics uses Structure Sensor to flawlessly navigate indoor spaces, which can be useful in both café and co-working spaces. In additon, the Kura headset also uses Structure Sensors in their mixed reality experiences. This could be intergrated with Alt-space, the emerging technology that the co-working group is looking at.

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