StereoLabs: People have stereoscopic vision. With two eyes, two perspectives and the powerful brain processing power, we can see the distance with the eyes, which allows us to get our food, not to pour our coffee, but also to perform surgical precision work.
A startup startup called StereoLabs developed the first affordable high definition stereoscopic camera. 
Combined with an unmanned aircraft (drone), a self-driving car, or some other robot, the device can give machineματα το πλεονέκτημα της “ανθρώπινης όρασης”, επιτρέποντας τους πλοήγηση με εξαιρετική ακρίβεια σε μια price which is thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars less than the price of today's technologies.
Today's robots use technologies based on lasers, radars, infrared, or some combination of all of these for autonomous navigation. measurement of distance, to recognize objects, and to avoid collisions.
The problem is that sophisticated versions of these detection technologies are very expensive. Google uses a LIDAR-based laser for its self-propelled cars to be able to detect objects. Its system can accurately identify a pedestrian crossing on the road from 100 meters away, but it costs around 60.000 dollars. And that's just one of the sensors Google uses in its cars.
Some drones use infrared, a thermal detection technology also used in night vision to avoid collisions. But there is a problem: IR sensors do not work well in daylight.
But let's look at the StereoLabs camera-sensor called ZED. At first glance, it looks like a dual high-definition camera, and it does not seem to be much more complicated than a regular camera. What is not visible is the alignment technology.
"The hardest part is making sure the sensors and optics of the two cameras are perfectly aligned," StereoLabs CEO Cecile Schmollgruber told ZDNet.
"This is practically impossible, even with many hours of effort"
"Of course there are digital stereoscopic cameras, but to date they all have the same common Achilles heel."
StereoLabs has begun to address 2008. The company started off the film industry.
"The production companies would come to us and tell us: we have two huge machines that are not aligned, do you have a solution? reports Schmollgruber.
So as it seems, StereoLabs found the solution and instead of investing in hardware, which is expensive, developed a software to identify and manage subtle calibration variations.
Schmollgruber says this would not have been possible a few years ago.
"Computers have evolved so much, and the power of graphics cards and GPUs has reached quite satisfactory levels," he says, "so the convergence of these things is possible today."
The first use of ZED will probably be in drones. The company is also partnering with auto-run auto developers, but confidentiality agreements do not let us know what their plans are and what role stereoscopic technology will play in the future.
This September, however, StereoLabs plans to release 3D scanning applications.
