The Lidar on Wheels is a small experimental device built in the Virtual Humanities Lab at the Ruhr-University Bochum in 2023 and 2024.[1]
This robot is able to orient itself in a room by using ultrasound detection and an Arduino microcontroller.[2] In addition to this, it carries an RPLidar A1M8 sensor and a Jetson Nano Computer. Building this robot and experimenting with its behaviour was an integral part of our research on the media theoretical implications of sensors, autonomous vehicles, and the effects of scaling.[3]
The Lidar on Wheels.
A schematic of the Lidar on Wheels, by courtesy of Alex Wynne Schmiedel.
While the robot is moving, the Lidar sensor detects the environment and creates a map of the room. Importantly, the ultrasonic sensor and the Arduino, on the one hand, and the Lidar sensor and the Jetson Nano, on the other, are separated in the current state of the robot. I.e., the Lidar sensor sits like a parasite on the Lidar on Wheels, profiting from the movements of the robot when measuring the room, but not providing the robot with any data in return.
The inner core of the robot is based on instructions by Gordon McComb, consisting of a small vehicle with two servomotors, the ultrasonic sensor for obstacle detection, and the Arduino microcontroller.[4] From here, we expanded and reconfigured this small robot by constructing a metal case to carry the Lidar sensor and the Jetson Nano.
The »McComb-robot« is the inner core of the Lidar on Wheels.
On the left, the Lidar on Wheels built at the Ruhr-University Bochum, here without Lidar sensor and Jetson Nano computer. On the right, an older robot named ten maly, built in Christian Kassung’s seminar »Theorie und Praxis der Roboter« at Humboldt University of Berlin in 2013.
Videos documenting the experiments with the Lidar on Wheels in different stages of the project can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBpJOCl1qHFmsX3ri1GjrMHeQ4H1Vg29k
The documentation of building the Lidar on Wheels is part of the publicly accessible lab book of the Virtual Humanities Lab. As the links to the lab book are not stable, please use the link to the lab book within the main page of the Lab.
[1] For more information on the Arduino, see Engemann, Christoph/Kokot, Sylvia/Nyckel, Thomas/Shnayien, Mary/Sprenger, Florian (2022): Arduino. In Emerson, Lori/Parikka, Jussi/Wershler, Darren (eds.): The Lab Book. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. Download from: https://manifold.umn.edu/read/arduino/section/bfff3735-f3f7-4584-a14c-6ef1048b413f (last accessed: 2022-03-03).
[2] For the role of a laboratory like the Virtual Humanities Lab within the Humanities, see Engemann, Christoph/Kokot, Sylvia/Nyckel, Thomas/Shnayien, Mary/Sprenger, Florian (2022): Lab Books. In Emerson, Lori/Parikka, Jussi/Wershler, Darren (eds.): The Lab Book. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. Download from: https://manifold.umn.edu/read/lab-books/section/5a4b990c-0eb9-4356-b3b0-0dac55d0d650 (last accessed: 2022-03-03).
[3] The research in the Virtual Humanities Lab, including the building of the Lidar on Wheels, is presented in: Engemann, Christoph/Fehrenbacher, Jens/Merkle, Benedikt/Nyckel, Thomas/Schmiedel, Alex/Sprenger, Florian (eds.) (2025): Virtualisierung von Umgebungen: Roboter bauen als medienwissenschaftliches Experiment. Bielefeld: transcript. Download from: https://www.transcript-verlag.de/detail/index/sArticle/7723/sCategory/313000000 (last accessed: 2025-12-12).
[4] McComb, Gordon (2018): How to Make a Robot. Edited by Robert Stewart. San Francisco: Maker Media, Inc.
last edit: 2025-12-12