Entry-Level 3D Sensing: Sensors & Books

Entry-Level 3D Sensing: Sensors & Books

A compact, English version of the recommended starter gear and staple books for 3D measurement.

Starter Sensors

  • Luxonis OAK-D-Lite Stereo + DepthAI
    Compact and affordable; on-device AI inference. Solid documentation and SDK.
  • Stereolabs ZED 2 / ZED 2i Stereo
    Longer effective range; good for outdoor experiments and VIO/SLAM.
  • Intel RealSense D455 Stereo
    A well-known workhorse with a large ecosystem, specs, and SDKs.
  • Orbbec Astra+ Structured Light
    Friendly for near-range shape/pose capture in indoor environments.
  • Orbbec Femto Mega iToF
    Uses Microsoft indirect ToF; a practical option after Azure Kinect DK.
  • Slamtec RPLIDAR A1 / A2 2D LiDAR
    Handy entry devices for indoor navigation and wall mapping.
  • Livox Mid-40 3D LiDAR
    Good balance of point density and cost for getting into 3D LiDAR.

Note on outdoor ToF: Many iToF depth cameras are designed primarily for indoor use and can suffer under strong sunlight. For outdoor projects, prefer 3D LiDAR or stereo.

Core Books

  • Richard Szeliski, “Computer Vision: Algorithms and Applications (2nd ed.)”
    A comprehensive, modern overview of computer vision.
  • Hartley & Zisserman, “Multiple View Geometry (2nd ed.)”
    The definitive reference for projective geometry and camera models.
  • Thrun, Burgard, & Fox, “Probabilistic Robotics”
    Foundations of Bayesian estimation and SLAM for mobile robotics.

Practical Buying Checklist

  • Environment: Indoor vs. outdoor (direct sun). Outdoors → prefer LiDAR / stereo.
  • Range band: ~0–2 m (Structured Light/ToF), ~0–20 m (Stereo), up to hundreds of meters (LiDAR).
  • Target surface: Textureless or glossy surfaces degrade stereo; moving objects favor ToF/stereo.
  • Compute: Real-time? Consider on-device processors (e.g., DepthAI) or a capable host.
  • SDK & tooling: Check compatibility with OpenCV, Open3D, PCL, RTAB-Map, etc.

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