In the world of automation and robotics, safety is non-negotiable. Industries increasingly rely on automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to streamline operations, and those robots almost universally require multiple scanners rated for functional safety (per ISO 13849 or IEC 61508) to ensure they don’t collide with and harm people or equipment. However, relying on legacy safety scanners may be setting your operation up for failure. Let’s explore why these outdated solutions fall short and how Voyant’s LIDAR systems can set you up for success. Lack of Robustness Le ..read more

When I was an undergrad I took this rather odd cross-disciplinary engineering class. I was the only EE student in the class, but I realized later I was kind of an odd EE student. One of the topics was in simulated engineering. Super computers in the latter half of the 1980’s had just become capable enough to make Finite Element Analysis and other modelling techniques almost a practical reality for companies like Boeing and Northrop. In theory, you could model a physical thing in a computer, include guesses at fabrication and assembly defects, and make sure your design of a turbine blade or lan ..read more

NEW YORK, NY, January 8, 2024 – Voyant Photonics today announced a significant advancement in its simulation capabilities by leveraging NVIDIA  Isaac Sim powered by the NVIDIA Omniverse development platform. With this new enhancement, Voyant can now achieve comprehensive simulations for its Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) imaging LiDAR sensors, catering to diverse industries such as automotive, mobile robots, and smart infrastructure applications. One of the notable challenges Voyant successfully addressed is the accurate modeling of the velocity of multi-segmented soft body ob ..read more

Using Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) LiDAR to replace Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) represents a significant advancement in state estimation for various applications, including autonomous vehicles, robotics, and aerospace systems. FMCW LiDAR is a type of light detection and ranging system that differs from traditional pulsed LiDAR systems. Instead of emitting pulses of light, FMCW LiDAR continuously emits a laser beam whose frequency changes over time. This technology measures the phase shift of the reflected light, enabling it to determine distance and velocity of objects with ..read more

Customers Are Finally Recognizing the Practical Limitations of Time-of-Flight LiDAR When Chris and Steve started Voyant they made all sorts of decisions to get their ideas for chip-based-LiDAR out of the lab and into cars as fast as possible. Like everyone making decisions without perfect foresight, they could not anticipate the impact their decisions would have on Voyant’s future, nor the doors their decisions would open and close. We cannot know if  Chris and Steve were lucky or smart.  Fortunately for Voyant, their decisions turned out to be the right ones. Take Voyant’s choice of ..read more

We have built something fundamentally new. It is a coherent 3D image sensor chip. This chip is the solution for bringing low cost, high fidelity machine perception into the mass market. Our chip provides a low power, compact form factor imaging solution that delivers on image quality, range performance and interference immunity. It can image the world out to 100+ meters range, with millimeter-scale range precision. It works just as well in glare from bright sunlight as it does in pitch-black darkness. This single aperture (“monostatic”), single-piece sensor is extremely robust because it conta ..read more

Ancient alien skull used as test target for coherent imaging LiDAR with full on-chip beam steering. LiDAR chip is mounted on the green circuit board in the lower left. When I first joined Voyant full time, Steve and Chris had so many ideas on where to take their incredible technology. We narrowed the opportunity by focusing on markets where Voyant could quickly introduce game-changing solutions and markets where we could reach customers with immediate needs and who demonstrated fast adoption cycles. Through this narrow lens (pun intended) we developed our first product, Blue. Blue uses a “hybr ..read more

Did you know that the reflective safety clothing you wear while biking at night or walking around a construction site could actually make you invisible to some of today’s leading LiDAR sensors? Voyant’s LiDAR sensors have no trouble seeing a nighttime biker, a construction worker, or anyone else for that matter. And we’re just getting started! It’s pretty surprising that some of today’s market-leading LiDARs might not be able to see you crossing the street below a big bright traffic sign. Objects like safety vests or road signs are bright in order to keep people safe from accidents while drivi ..read more

At my next mentor presentation at ERANYC, as at all the previous ones, I will advise the new cohort not to say “We have a rock star team” when they speak with investors. The older I get the less certain I become about offering any wisdom or advice at all, to anyone, about anything. On this one small idea I remain firm. They probably do have a rock star team. That is not the point. Investors have heard that usually baseless claim so many times it no longer has any positive meaning. It’s like telling people you have a cute baby. Don’t tell people you have a great team. Prove it with something th ..read more

The big themes this year focused on services and experiences that drivers and passengers can have inside vehicles, the advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving features that handle some of the drudgery of driving so you can have those experiences, and the compute power needed to deliver it all ..read more