Earlier quoted context omitted.
Camera's don't have lasers (at least in smartphones). You could use infrared with two cameras to do depth measurement like the Kinect and the Leap Motion, but I'm unaware of any smartphones currently doing this.
How does the autofocus work?
Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones
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Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
Camera's don't have lasers (at least in smartphones). You could use infrared with two cameras to do depth measurement like the Kinect and the Leap Motion, but I'm unaware of any smartphones currently doing this.
How does the autofocus work?
Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
Camera's don't have lasers (at least in smartphones). You could use infrared with two cameras to do depth measurement like the Kinect and the Leap Motion, but I'm unaware of any smartphones currently doing this.
How does the autofocus work?
Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones
#14Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones
#15One thing I'm not happy about is that I did not see any information about software currently in compatibility testing or plans to support specific software.
I won't be satisfied if the device is delivered and I can't actually use it for anything other than a simple measurement that my current laser distance meter can perform.
Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones
#16Overall, I think it's an interesting implementation, but I felt the tone of the video did not match the nature of the product. The video feels produced towards something with more breadth and importance than essentially a contractor tool. Not that I'm downplaying what Senic built, but the presentation gives off "toddler in a business suit" aesthetic.
Having said that, the implementation looks great.
Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones
#17I know YC typically gives small investments which works well enough for web startups, but do they give more to hardware companies like Senic that need things like materials, machines and parts?
Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones
#18I know YC typically gives small investments which works well enough for web startups, but do they give more to hardware companies like Senic that need things like materials, machines and parts?
Nope, all companies receive the same funding (as in base amount + x per founder up to 3)
Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones
#19I have always wondered how these devices actually calculate distances. I have experimented with Arduino & Parallax, and I've seen how the resolution of an ultrasonic distance sensor is directly affected by the processor speed -- the processor is merely counting the fractions of a second between sending the ping pulse, and receiving its echo. But a 1 MHz processor can only just count milliseconds. A 16 MHz processor can count only slightly faster. At the room-temperature speed of sound, this gives you a resolution of about 1/29th of an inch, or 1/74th of a centimeter.
In theory, the same should be possible with light -- send a light pulse then count the fractions of a second for it to return. Thinking back to Grace Hopper's Nanosecond [1], a 1mhz processor would have a resolution of hundreds of feet. So these must be using a very small, simple, multi-GHz processor to get a resolution of about 2/15 of an inch.
Unless these devices do their measurement in a completely different way...
Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones
#20Is there any way to measure less precisely using the iPhone's camera? Something about using the gyroscope to get a depth measurement?