Laser Rangefinder behind a transparent glass surface

Question

Hi,

I have this laser rangefinder sensor (http://www.robotshop.com/en/hokuyo-urg-04lx-ug01-scanning-laser-rangefinder.html?gclid=CjwKEAiA05unBRCymrGilanF9SwSJACqDFRmIQWxXx7UcbloHmRC0rczrda7DPXxiCefYlr5SEdO_RoCCifw_wcB) and I am using hokuyo_node ROS package. I was wondering will it be a problem if there is a transparent glass surface in front of the sensor. Will there be any attenuation of the signal? I think it should not have any problem because it emits laser which can pass through the transparent glass surface but I just want to make sure.

Thanks in advance. Naman

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Originally posted by Naman on ROS Answers with karma: 1464 on 2015-02-20

Post score: 0

Answer 1

No, there wont be any problems with the signal. But the sensor will generate the data as an empty area. If you are doing SLAM and navigating the robot through a long area consisting of only glass windows on a side, you will have trouble getting a decent map. For a good map its advisable to have some features that are within the range of your laser sensor. You can checkout this video where a handheld mapping system is developed by the Hector guys and they moved in a corridor with glass panes on one side, but since the laser sensor that they used has a pretty good range (30 m) it can still detect features beyond the glass panels and creates a good map using hector_mapping.

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Originally posted by AlexR with karma: 654 on 2015-02-23

This answer was ACCEPTED on the original site

Post score: 2

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Original comments

Comment by Naman on 2015-02-23:
Hey, Thanks for the reply. The area where the robot will be navigating will not have many glass windows, so that should be fine and as part of the robot, the lidar is behind a transparent glass surface which should also be fine. Thanks.

Comment by AlexR on 2015-02-23:
Great. Please mark the comment as answer by clicking the right symbol if it had helped you. Thanks.