Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones

Laser distance meters have been available to contractors for years. The major difference Senic adds, over Ryobi, Bosch &amp; Fluke, is bluetooth &amp; cloud syncing.<p>I have always wondered how these devices actually calculate distances. I have experimented with Arduino &amp; Parallax, and I&#x27;ve seen how the resolution of an ultrasonic distance sensor is directly affected by the processor speed -- the processor is merely counting the fractions of a second between sending the ping pulse, and receiving its echo. But a 1 MHz processor can only just count milliseconds. A 16 MHz processor can count only slightly faster. At the room-temperature speed of sound, this gives you a resolution of about 1&#x2F;29th of an inch, or 1&#x2F;74th of a centimeter.<p>In theory, the same should be possible with light -- send a light pulse then count the fractions of a second for it to return. Thinking back to Grace Hopper&#x27;s Nanosecond [1], a 1mhz processor would have a resolution of hundreds of feet. So these must be using a very small, simple, multi-GHz processor to get a resolution of about 2&#x2F;15 of an inch.<p>Unless these devices do their measurement in a completely different way...<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEpsKnWZrJ8" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=JEpsKnWZrJ8</a>

I&#x27;m going to preface this by saying this meter looks great and I realize that it&#x27;s much easier to critique than encourage.<p>Overall, I think it&#x27;s an interesting implementation, but I felt the tone of the video did not match the nature of the product. The video feels produced towards something with more breadth and importance than essentially a contractor tool. Not that I&#x27;m downplaying what Senic built, but the presentation gives off &quot;toddler in a business suit&quot; aesthetic.<p>Having said that, the implementation looks great.

I think Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)[0]is really cool and has the possibility to enable many many cool devices. The low power requirements allow devices to run for weeks on a button cell, and the fact that it uses the same hardware as the original bluetooth implementation mean devices only need software updates to enable it. The latest iPhones have BLE support, and google added BLE support in android 4.3[1].<p>BLE is already used in devices like the Pebble Watch. If you are interested in hacking with a BLE device, check out the SensorTag[2] from TI. Its a tiny $25 board that contains a whopping six sensors:<p>* IR temperature Sensor (contactless temperature measurement)<p>* Humidity Sensor<p>* Pressure Sensor<p>* 3-axis Accelerometer<p>* Gyroscope<p>* Magnetometer<p>They also provide example iOS and android source code. You can download the iOS app in the app store.<p>[0] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_low_energy" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Bluetooth_low_energy</a><p>[1] <a href="http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/bluetooth-le.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;developer.android.com&#x2F;guide&#x2F;topics&#x2F;connectivity&#x2F;bluet...</a><p>[2] <a href="http://www.ti.com/tool/cc2541dk-sensor" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ti.com&#x2F;tool&#x2F;cc2541dk-sensor</a>

Useful product, although I&#x27;m dismayed its not a device that can build a point cloud of the whole room yet (and use said point cloud for rendering on a mobile device, as well as high-resolution measurements).<p>Look what tech innovation has done to my expectations of products :(<p>Room scanning point cloud with Kinect: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhg3_ZgRK68" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Xhg3_ZgRK68</a><p>Boiler Room Point Cloud: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1l0X46rOAU" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=P1l0X46rOAU</a><p>Point cloud of living room: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6eRG3Q27Lw" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=g6eRG3Q27Lw</a>

I love this for two reasons.<p>First, this is a great example of creating a solution for a small yet annoying problem people have just come to live with. Second, I really like that they&#x27;re creating well-designed tools for a very specific niche of customers. This isn&#x27;t a general purpose device for mass consumption, but for architects, interior designers and the like -- professionals whose industry, like most other industries, does not get enough attention in the way of high-quality, well-designed, &#x27;sexy&#x27; solutions. There are a ton of opportunities to provide similar solutions to other markets. Withings, for example, produces a really well-designed and easy-to-use blood pressure cuff [1].<p>As for the Senic, I wouldn&#x27;t get one myself, but my parents, who are frequently fixing and renovating things around their home and dabble in real estate, definitely would.<p>1. <a href="http://withings.com/en/bloodpressuremonitor" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;withings.com&#x2F;en&#x2F;bloodpressuremonitor</a>

I clicked through the purchase flow and noticed the &quot;SSL secured&quot; text.<p>But the homepage is not served via SSL. I assume the actual purchase form submits through SSL, but an active network attacker could change it to submit anywhere they want, and no one would know.<p>Everyone makes this mistake, because they think of SSL as being just encryption. It&#x27;s encryption, but it&#x27;s also integrity. If a page has security-sensitive functionality at all near it, you want integrity, even if the content is public. (Another example: You have a totally static personal site. Why would that possibly demand SSL? Well, say you want to post your GPG public key so people can send you encrypted email. Someone who can intercept mail bound for you might also be able to MITM your site, so you want SSL to ensure people actually get your real key.)<p>Just serve everything over SSL always, and you won&#x27;t have to think about this.

This project is interesting, and I preordered one because the last time I had to transcribe measurements of a room into modeling software, I was quite frustrated at the time and complexity of the task.<p>One thing I&#x27;m not happy about is that I did not see any information about software currently in compatibility testing or plans to support specific software.<p>I won&#x27;t be satisfied if the device is delivered and I can&#x27;t actually use it for anything other than a simple measurement that my current laser distance meter can perform.

Just preordered three of these for various projects I have in mind&#x2F;that could take advantage of this, awesome work! Do you have any idea when more details on the SDK&#x2F;API will be available?

sounds good but nothing really &quot;new&quot; here leica has similar products <a href="http://www.leica-geosystems.com/en/Laser-Distancemeter_5061.htm" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.leica-geosystems.com&#x2F;en&#x2F;Laser-Distancemeter_5061....</a>, additionally leica has intergrated with autocad, excel etc so you can already do more. I don&#x27;t know any contractors that work based off sq. footage measurements alone for pricing no matter the type of work. it also looks like it can&#x27;t be used without another device

I know YC typically gives small investments which works well enough for web startups, but do they give more to hardware companies like Senic that need things like materials, machines and parts?

It would be cool if it could give you the GPS coordinates of the point your measuring. That should be easy since the phone already has a GPS and a compass right?

Love the idea for the professional.<p>Is there any way to measure less precisely using the iPhone&#x27;s camera? Something about using the gyroscope to get a depth measurement?

Looks like the website wasn&#x27;t totally ready? The partner logos are all the same, and what does Square have to do with it?

I thought distance meters were already built in in all smartphones using the camera&#x27;s laser.

It&#x27;s the tri-corder!<p>... or at least, the seed technologies for one.