SilverAnalyst:
Wow, this looks really useful. If only it was in the UK, and much cheaper.
Well - I don't know off-hand what it would cost to get it to ya, but currently that -is- the cheapest off-the-shelf laser range finder available anywhere; unfortunately, it is "single point" so you have to scan it around to get a 2D system (of which currently the cheapest is to buy a Neato XV-11 and rip the LIDAR unit out).
SilverAnalyst:
Do you think I will need a lense, or perhaps just an old fasioned pin-hole camera approach?
I would personally use a small double convex lens; perhaps something from a junk 35mm camera or an old pair of binoculars (or opera glasses) would work ok. Figure out the focal length by focusing the image of a bulb (or a bright outdoor view - not the sun!) on a piece of white paper and measure the distance from the lens to the paper. Alternatively, if you can purchase a small lens cheap enough with a known focal length, that can work too.
But that is my opinion; experiment and you might find the pinhole approach more useful...?
Wow, this looks really useful. If only it was in the UK, and much cheaper.
All of those things mentioned have good potential for certain circumstances.
Although a little overpriced, I like the TSL1402 line scanner with lens, because
it's small and light and you could get very useful data when used with a pan-servo,
and not need a dedicated vision processor. I have one, and am looking at
using it in a similar way to the LDR articles I cited.
Also, now that I read the articles, I also like the laser-camera-range finder
quite a bit, as it's open-source and I have a couple of Propeller boards already,
to learn how to program one of these days. It's a little large for panning, so
would probably best go on a medium sized robot with a nice panning pod.
The Neato lidar is cool too, and it's been hacked. Also a number of robot people
have taken to hacking the Kinect, but it's rather large. People are putting it on
roomba vac platforms.
Also, since you're in the UK, if you're anywheres near Manchester, David Buckley
likes to hang out at the Manchester FabLab on weekends, and you could
learn a lot from him.