Just wanted to post and update to my previous post on hacking the Neato Robotics XV-11 lidar for a bounty (
http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=12612.0), because the bounty has been claimed! User Hash79, with the help of others, including Xevel, has fulfilled the rules of the bounty and succesfully plotted live distance data from the running lidar unit!
http://robotbox.net/blog/gallamine/neato-robotics-xv-11s-lidar-hacked[youtube]
XV-11 Live data processing[/youtube]
We now have access to a relatively inexepensive (let's hope Neato makes it even cheaper) lidar unit that gives 360 degrees of distance data out to 6 meters, at a rate of 10 hz and in 1 degree increments. Pretty cool stuff.
Lots of thanks to Trossen Robotics, RobotNV, and RobotShop for chipping in to the bounty. There's also still $200 outstanding for the first person to demonstrate SLAM navigation with the unit (thanks to RoboDynamics).