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" Australian researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) made history last week\u2014while preserving it. The team created the first 3D map of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, mapping the interior of the famed Italian site in just 20 minutes using a new handheld infrared laser scanner called the Zebedee. It&amp;#039;s a great leap forward for cultural heritage preservation efforts, which can often be a laborious affair. But that&amp;#039;s not all the Zebedee can do. According to Jonathan Roberts, research program leader at CSIRO&amp;#039;s Computational Informatics Division, the tech can be used to help miners, in recording traffic accidents, and plenty more. In fact, Roberts says, he is looking at unmanned navigation as the next market. &amp;quot;Now that the Zebedee technology is maturing,&amp;quot; he says, &amp;quot;we will be employing it and its derivatives on mobile robots, both ground robots and flying robots.&amp;quot; A Spring in Its Step Zebedee is named after a character featured in The Magic Roundabout, an old BBC TV show for kids. &amp;quot;Zebedee was a creature with a spring instead of legs,&amp;quot; Roberts explains, &amp;quot;and our Zebedee has a spring instead of a motor to move the sensor around.&amp;quot; The idea was first conceived back in 2010, Roberts says, after a CSIRO research team had been testing a larger motor-driven laser system in the Jenolan Caves in Australia. While that laser mapping system worked, &amp;quot;the team came back extremely tired from carting the system around the tunnels,&amp;quot; he says. This led the team to refine an earlier idea for a small, light laser mapping system, and soon afterward the Zebedee was born. Bobbing with the natural movement of the operator, the spring-mounted 2D laser scanner ranges and re-ranges surfaces by analyzing reflected light, doing so in all directions, up to 30 meters away. Meanwhile an inertial measurement unit tracks which way the spring bounces. Later, proprietary Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) software &amp;quot;takes all the raw information from the sensors, calculates the trajectory of the device as it was moved through the environment, and then builds the map,&amp;quot; he says. Zebedee builds its 3D map out of a point cloud, millions of points tied to a common coordinate frame, and it understands its own location within that map, thanks to the inertial measurement unit and changes in distance from laser ranged surfaces. No GPS is required for the operation. This makes the device perfect for operation indoors, underground, or in other areas not otherwise accessible by satellite signal. Plus, it&amp;#039;s very fast and lightweight.  In the case of the Tower of Pisa, Zebedee was able to map the irregular interior at the walking speed of the operator without any external help\u2014a task that would take hours, if not days, using other techniques. The scan will help architects rebuild the monument should it ever be damaged as well as provide tourists a virtual world to explore its design. Cameras and Robots However, Roberts is already thinking about upgrades and new applications. For example, he wants to pair up the Zebedee with a video camera so that every point in the 3D map has a corresponding image. He also wants to apply Zebedee to unmanned systems. &amp;quot;My research lab has a large focus on mobile robotics and the original motivation for real-time 3D mapping was for a perception system on a mobile ground vehicle,&amp;quot; he says. Most existing mapping solutions for ground robots tend to focus on maneuvering along a flat surface, such as a road, and require extra lasers to build a 3D map. By contrast, Zebedee will enable ground robots to navigate more challenging situations. &amp;quot;Our SLAM technology and the Zebedee-based derivatives will allow robots to create 3D maps in real time while operating in rough terrain,&amp;quot; Roberts says. Roberts also says that certain parties have asked about this application, but he won&amp;#039;t offer details. &amp;quot;Unfortunately, we do not have permission to discuss which security organizations have expressed interest in Zebedee at this time\u2014sorry,&amp;quot; he says, before heading off to help run the UAV Challenge Outback Rescue 2013, in Ipswich, Queensland.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/design/a9467/laser-scanner-builds-3d-map-of-leaning-tower-of-pisa-15966081/>