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A comment on OpenSimpleLidar. Parent comment

Re:OpenSimpleLidar by yonkshi on Thursday April 05, 2018 @08:29AM (#16764162)
In the US 5mW is the legal limit for laser pointers. I think that can be used as a guideline, 3mW IR is much less energetic than a 5mW green/blue laser, perhaps it's not powerful enough to cause huge concern? But I agree no amount of laser is safe for the eye. Police LIDAR guns are 905nm at 50mW, that can technically damage you too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIDAR_traffic_enforcement#How_...

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Re:OpenSimpleLidar by tsukikage on Monday April 09, 2018 @05:21AM (#16791529)
The limit for visible light is as high as it is because of the blink reflex. An IR laser, having a beam you don't perceive as being bright, won't make you blink.
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Re:OpenSimpleLidar by vanderZwan on Thursday April 05, 2018 @02:46PM (#16767799)
Wouldn't it matter how narrow the laser beam is? 50mW spread out over a larger surface area sounds like it should be safer.

Of course, then the question is whether that also comes with an equal reduction in sensitivity, or whether a larger sensor can compensate for that.

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