Smart software replaces expensive sensors for glass wall detection with 96% accuracy
Summary
Functioning as "laser eyes," expensive LiDAR sensors determine distance and structure by projecting light and measuring reflection time. Inexpensive LiDAR sensors cannot detect transparent objects such as those made of glass; they may mistake them for empty space, potentially resulting in a collision. High-resolution ultrasonic LiDAR sensors or cameras do not have this limitation, but their use increases system complexity and raises costs by hundreds of thousands to millions of won. To provide an alternative, a DGIST research team led by Professor Kyungjoon Park developed probabilistic incremental navigation-based mapping (PINMAP), an algorithm that approaches problem-solving via software, not hardware. The algorithm the research team developed offers a substantial economic advantage because it achieves detection performance comparable to that of expensive LiDAR sensors at less than one-tenth of the cost.