[Neumi] wrote in with a sweet robotics hack. It’s a 2D laser distance sensor (YouTube) made with a cheap line laser and an optical mouse’s flow-sensor chip used as a low-resolution camera. In one ...

Precision sensor supplier Micro-Epsilon has extended its non-contact laser distance sensor portfolio with a low cost unit that is even more robust and compact than its predecessor measuring distances ...

Just about every “getting started with microcontrollers” kit, Arduino or otherwise, includes an ultrasonic distance sensor ...