Kaarta Releases Stencil 2 Compact Mobile Lidar

Kaarta has announced a new version of its Stencil real-time 3D scanning system with better hardware, improved accuracy, and an easier workflow. It has double the onboard storage capacity for easier storage and reduced need to connect to an external drive. The system also records GNSS data for loop closures and geolocation, which helps correct drift when you use the system in large spaces, improving the results of Kaarta’s SLAM algorithm.

Kaarta’s head of marketing Kathy Pattison told SPAR that the device now ships with an iPad, a move that signals a big change in the user interface. Where once users were held to interacting with a text-based, command line interaction, now they get an icon-based UI.

The system now ships with an iPad which can be used to operate the device on a wireless connection. This update makes for much more flexible real-time mobile operation, as it opens up a whole new group of implementation styles and allows users to make parameter changes remotely, and on the fly instead of through physical manipulations or taking the time to connect a wired display.

Stencil 2’s UI also offers new user settings, including the option to choose when to generate full-sized maps, which allows greater control over on-device processing and frees the Stencil up for additional scanning in the field. You’ll also find a new file management system that keeps all scan data in one place.

Incremental Upgrades

Kaarta is among a new wave of hardware/software vendors that considers itself more dedicated to the software that makes the processing possible. Pattison says they make solutions that are “relatively hardware agnostic,” giving them “the ability and agility to incorporate the latest off-the-shelf components as they come to market.” This approach makes the Kaarta Engine, which powers the Stencil 2, the central product offered by the company. The Kaarta Engine has seen a lot of upgrades since the Stencil 1 or the Contour hit the market.

Updates to the engine that users have received since the latest hardware release include: Reality Layers; Confidence Metrics; Real-time colour overlay on map previews; Fast resume from previous scans; a Pause feature; Point cloud slicing; and Single and multi-story levelling.