  High performance lidars are essential in autonomous robots such as
self-driving cars, automated ground vehicles and intelligent machines.
Traditional mechanical scanning lidars offer superior performance in autonomous
vehicles, but the potential mass application is limited by the inherent
manufacturing difficulty. We propose a robotic lidar sensor based on
incommensurable scanning that allows straightforward mass production and
adoption in autonomous robots. Some unique features are additionally permitted
by this incommensurable scanning. Similar to the fovea in human retina, this
lidar features a peaked central angular density, enabling in applications that
prefers eye-like attention. The incommensurable scanning method of this lidar
could also provide a much higher resolution than conventional lidars which is
beneficial in robotic applications such as sensor calibration. Examples making
use of these advantageous features are demonstrated.

Robotics