Potential of Low-Cost Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) Sensors: Case Studies for Enhancing Visitor Experience at a Science Museum

Abstract

A low-cost light detection and ranging (LiDAR) device has several advantages including being able to perform a wide range of angle measurements, less privacy concerns, and robustness to illumination variance owing to its use of infrared (IR) light. In this study, to enhance the visitor experience at a science museum, three case studies using low-cost LiDAR sensors are presented: (1) an interactive floor projection to learn about the phases of the Moon; (2) an information kiosk with touchless interaction and visitor tracking; and (3) a visitor tracking box with horizontal and vertical scanning. The proposed kiosk system uses a mirror to reflect a portion of the scanning plane of the LiDAR sensor, to allow the capture of touchless interactions, track visitor positions, and count the number of nearby visitors. The visitor tracking box also uses two detection planes reflected by a mirror: the vertical plane is for counting visitors crossing the scanning plane and the horizontal plane is for tracking visitor positions to generate the corresponding heat maps for the visualization of museum hotspots. A series of evaluation experiments were conducted at a science museum, whereby an accuracy of 85% was obtained to estimate the number of visitors, with an accuracy increasing in counting people taller than 140 cm. The interactive floor received a visitor rating of 4.3–4.4 on a scale of 1–5.