A team of researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, has recently developed a new unique camera which is so fast and quick that it can see around corners to track hidden objects in real time.

According to its makers, the camera uses echo mapping, which is an established technique used to locate objects around a corner. The same technique has been previously used by other cameras, but the thing makes the new camera different from other cameras is that it can do this in real time.

Genevieve Gariepy, co-lead researcher on the project, said, “This could be incredibly helpful for [computer assisted] vehicles to avoid collisions around sharp turns ... or for emergency responders looking around blind corners in dangerous situations”.

The team presented the details of the new single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) camera in the journal Nature Photonics. The new technology uses precise lasers along with the advanced camera module.

The system is so sensitive that it can track individual photons of light. The system releases short pulses of lasers aimed at the floor in front of a wall. The laser pulse bounce off the floor hits the wall near it, and then beams around the room.

When the laser bounce off an object in the room, it gets bounced back to the camera because of its high sensitivity and it detects all of these returning echoes, said researchers.

The laser fires around 67 million times every second, offering a huge amount of information to the camera extremely quickly. The camera uses this information to calculate the size, shape and position of different objects in the room.