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A screenshot of Tangram Vision’s depth sensor comparison tool.

Tangram Vision, a San Francisco-based startup specializing in sensor integration and optimization for robots, launched its Depth Sensor Visualizer. The interactive tool lets you quickly compare 3D sensors.

The tool lets users select one or two 3D sensors to instantly analyze and compare minimum range, maximum range, horizontal field of view, vertical field of view, and diagonal field of view. You can also click and drag for different viewpoints.

Depth sensing is useful for drones and robots for a number of key functions: near field obstacle avoidance, object detection, and object identification. The 3D data streams from depth sensors is often a key input into navigational systems like SLAM and VIO. The tool can compare the following sensors:

• Intel RealSense D family
• Occipital Structure Core
• Mynt Eye family
• Orbbec Astra family
• Stereolabs Zed family
• pmd Pico family
• Microsoft Azure Kinect family

“3D sensors used to be expensive, finicky, and hard to find. That has all changed in the last five years,” Adam Rodnitzky, COO and co-Founder of Tangram Vision, told The Robot Report. “Now, there’s a wide range of sensors available from a number of manufacturers. The specifications of these sensors vary, as some manufacturers have tried to create one-size-fits-all sensors, while others have focused their efforts on specific markets like robotics or AR/VR headsets.”

Tangram is allowing the tool to be embedded on other websites. So we’ve embedded the tool below, but strongly encourage you to check out the original version here.

Tangram also recently compiled the 2021 perception sensor industry map. It shows the primary players in the key perception sensing modalities, as well as the software companies that provide the infrastructure and libraries that are most commonly used to build perception-powered products.

“For roboticists, depth is often used for near- and mid-field tasks like navigation and obstacle avoidance. In these scenarios, the operating range and field of view of the sensor are critical specifications that will determine whether or not a depth sensor is suitable for a robotic application.”

“Unfortunately, this information isn’t always easy to find, and it is rarely found in one place. At Tangram Vision, we figured we could make comparing depth sensors easier (and perhaps even a little fun) by creating this tool. It lets a robotics developer easily visualize and compare depth sensor ranges and fields of view to rapidly winnow down which models should be chosen for serious evaluation.”

Tangram Vision Depth Sensor Visualizer