RoboSense RS-LiDAR-16
Overview
The RS-LiDAR-16 is a 16-channel mechanical spinning 3D LiDAR manufactured by RoboSense Technology Co., Ltd. (Suteng Innovation Technology, Shenzhen, China). It uses 16 transmitter–receiver laser pairs operating at 905 nm (Class 1, eye-safe) mounted on a rotating head, providing a full 360° horizontal and 30° (±15°) vertical field of view.
Measurement performance
The sensor reaches up to 150 m range (80 m at 10% NIST reflectivity) with typical ±2 cm range accuracy. It outputs ~300,000 points/s in single-return mode and up to ~600,000 points/s in dual-return mode. Horizontal angular resolution is 0.1°/0.2°/0.4° (depending on the 5/10/20 Hz frame rate); vertical resolution is 2.0°. Data is streamed over 100 Mbps Ethernet as UDP packets, time-synchronized via $GPRMC + 1PPS.
Design and applications
The IP67-rated industrial housing (φ109 × 80.7 mm, ~0.87 kg) and −30°C to +60°C operating range target AGVs, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), inspection drones, mobile-mapping rigs and L2–L4 autonomous vehicles. The wide 9–32 V DC supply and ~12 W power draw allow direct integration with typical vehicle and mobile-robot power systems.
Place in RoboSense portfolio
RS-LiDAR-16 belongs to RoboSense's R-platform (mechanical spinning LiDARs) — the company's earliest product family. Launched around 2016/2017 as a direct competitor to the Velodyne VLP-16, it remains one of RoboSense's most widely deployed models in mobile robotics and autonomous-driving research. The portfolio is rounded out by higher-resolution models (RS-LiDAR-32, RS-Helios, RS-Ruby/Ruby Plus 128-channel) and the M-platform (RS-LiDAR-M1, EM4) and E-platform (E1, Airy) solid-state LiDARs.
Manufacturer
RoboSense Technology Co., Ltd. (Suteng Innovation Technology, 速腾聚创), founded in August 2014 in Shenzhen (Guangdong, China) by Qiu Chunxin, Zhu Xiaorui and Liu Letian. The company has been publicly listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (SEHK: 2498) since January 2024. RoboSense is one of the world's largest automotive-LiDAR producers and the main rival of Hesai Technology.
Classification
3D LiDAR Sensors · serves as: Sensing, Perception, Localization, Obstacle Detection. · compatible with: Mobile Robot, Wheeled Robot, AMR, Autonomous Robot, Warehouse Robot, Research Robot, Humanoid.
Which group RoboSense RS-LiDAR-16 belongs to and how it is built
3D LiDAR Sensors are a subcategory of sensing components that use laser radiation to measure distance and construct three-dimensional representations of the environment. These sensors are used in robotics for space mapping, localization, autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance, and building 3D perception systems. Depending on the model, they can provide point clouds with varying resolution, frequency, and range, supporting mobile robots, humanoid platforms, and autonomous systems.
Design class for mechanical spinning 3D LiDARs with a rotating head carrying multiple transmitter-receiver pairs. Characterized by full 360° horizontal field of view.
Technical specification
Basic physical properties of RoboSense RS-LiDAR-16 — dimensions, weight and materials
Software
RS-LiDAR-16 is supported by the official RoboSense SDK (rslidar_sdk) with native ROS and ROS 2 drivers. The vendor provides the RSView visualization tool (Windows/Ubuntu). The sensor integrates with perception stacks built on PCL, Open3D, Autoware, and SLAM frameworks (Cartographer, LIO-SAM, FAST-LIO).