The DIY PiLiDAR scanner project uses a Raspberry Pi for LiDAR mapping.

LiDAR scans the surroundings by firing lasers to create a 3D model.

Raspberry Pi 4, camera, motors, and LiDAR kit are needed for the project.

Have you checked out LiDAR scanners yet? If you haven't, they're really handy for taking in data from an environment and reproducing it as a 3D model. If that sounds like something you'd like to try, but you're unsure where to start, allow me to introduce you to this excellent Raspberry Pi project, which guides you through the steps of creating your own LiDAR scanner.

As spotted by Hackaday, this excellent project is called the PiLiDAR, and you can check out its GitHub page for the source code and instructions on how to build it. If you've never heard of LiDAR before, it stands for "Light Detection and Ranging." It can map out an area by firing lasers at it and recording how long it takes for the reflected light to return. It's a handy way of creating a 3D model of a physical space, and you may have even played horror games that use LiDAR scanners to particularly creepy effect.

The PiLiDAR is a project that brings this technology to the hobbyist's workbench. Although it's still a work in progress, you can view some of its results in 3D on its GitHub page. Here's all the stuff it can do: