Embracing the “Robot+” Era: DEPTRUM's sToF Technology at the D-Robotics Developer Day

DEPTRUM

Recently, the 2024 D-Robotics Developer Day under the theme “Accelerating the Growth of Intelligence” was successfully held in Shenzhen. As the industry's leading provider of general-purpose robot software and hardware foundations, D-Robotics (Horizon Robotics) released its full suite of software and hardware products for the “Robot+” era. At the launch event, DEPTRUM's sToF technology appeared repeatedly in the product demonstrations, providing visual perception support for its ecosystem robots and helping usher in the all-new “Robot+” era.

With breakthroughs in large models and embodied intelligence, robots are expected to become an important engine of the next round of industrial upgrading by 2030. As an ecosystem partner of D-Robotics, DEPTRUM combines its proprietary sToF technology with the company's powerful robot software-hardware platform, jointly building an intelligent robotics ecosystem with integrated software and hardware and deep industry-academia-research collaboration — providing strong technical support to robotics companies and leading the transformation of the consumer robot experience.

Embracing the “Robot+” Era: DEPTRUM's sToF Technology at the

DEPTRUM's sToF technology solution is designed on nanophotonic-chip-modulated projected light fields. By cleverly combining structured light, suited to close-range perception, with ToF technology, suited to mid-to-long-range imaging, a single set of optical hardware achieves depth reconstruction on both technology routes — significantly improving depth perception.

Embracing the “Robot+” Era: DEPTRUM's sToF Technology at the

Live demo of a robot equipped with the Nebula series depth camera

The sToF-powered Nebula 400 depth camera, through the complementary strengths of the two 3D reconstruction technologies, delivers high-precision, wide-FOV point cloud output at both near and far ranges — meeting various robot types and commercial robot scenarios, achieving a double breakthrough in performance and cost.

Embracing the “Robot+” Era: DEPTRUM's sToF Technology at the

Compared with traditional ToF solutions, the Nebula 400 depth camera has stronger perception: it recognizes ground obstacles with high precision, accurately distinguishing common household obstacles of different colors and sizes. In multi-path interference resistance, the Nebula series also performs excellently — the sToF scheme remains stable at wall corners and other interference-prone scenes, avoiding the common multi-path interference problem and ensuring precise obstacle avoidance and mapping.

Embracing the “Robot+” Era: DEPTRUM's sToF Technology at the

On-site introduction of the sToF solution (center)

Moreover, the Nebula 400 depth camera features an ultra-wide field of view, letting robots perceive more comprehensive information in complex environments and optimize obstacle avoidance and path planning — adapting to more working scenarios. In addition, the camera also performs excellently under strong outdoor light, satisfying robots' obstacle-avoidance needs.

Applying innovative technology to different scenarios and serving daily life has always been DEPTRUM's pursuit. As robots land and spread across industries, digitalization is integrating into every aspect of life, bringing convenience and efficiency. DEPTRUM looks forward to joining hands with more robotics companies to build the new “Robot+” era, letting more people enjoy the convenient life brought by technological innovation.