Light Fields

We seem to be living at a time of innovation in sensor technology.  Light field cameras are another possible alternative to either a Kinect type sensor or conventional stereo vision.

Since service robotics is likely to be mainly concerned with objects within a relatively short distance of a few metres, something like this could be viable depth sensor.  Compared to a Kinect it would have a lower cost both in terms of price, due to the lower number of components, and also in terms of energy (and hence battery life), since it doesn't depend upon pumping out a lot of energy into the environment.