KT develops indoor short-range 3D Lidar for various industrial use

SEOUL -- Lidar measures distance by illuminating the target with laser light. It is commonly used in control and navigation for autonomous vehicles and to make high-resolution maps. KT, a telecom company in South Korea, claimed to developed an indoor short-range Lidar capable of detecting three-dimensional space with minimal laser sensors.

With 2D Lidar that can simply detect the depth of a single beam, it is difficult to fully implement unmanned or automated production lines. 3D Lidar accurately determines the distance and position of objects and interprets spatial three-dimensional information like human eyes, but manufacturing costs are high.

KT said that its 3D short-range Lidar can create up to 24 detection lines with a single laser to check the approaching danger and draw space in three dimensions. Using artificial intelligence analysis, it can distinguish between human and object obstacles and analyze the shape of objects.

Manufacturing costs will be about one-tenth of that of other 3D Lidars, KT said, adding the new product can be used in various industrial safety areas and automation technologies such as unmanned vehicles and cooperative robots that require multiple Lidas.

"This short-range 3D Lidar is a differentiated IT technology developed to promote non-face-to-face automation throughout the industry," KT's platform research head Kim Bong-ki said. "We will do our best to drive growth in the smart factory market by further developing it into a product form."