Mapping Nearby Terrain in 3D by Use of a Grid of Laser Spots

A proposed optoelectronic system, to be mounted aboard an exploratory robotic vehicle, would be used to generate a three-dimensional (3D) map of nearby terrain and obstacles for purposes of navigating the vehicle across the terrain and avoiding the obstacles. Like some other systems that have been, variously, developed and proposed to perform similar functions, this system would include (1) a light source that would project a known pattern of bright spots onto the terrain, (2) an electronic camera that would be laterally offset from the light source by a known baseline distance, (3) circuitry to digitize the output of the camera during imaging of the light spots, and (4) a computer that would calculate the 3D coordinates of the illuminated spots from their positions in the images by triangulation.