A 3D sensor is simply a device that can measure three dimensional attributes of an object or the surrounding reality It uses techniques such as structured light time of flight or stereoscopic vision to calculate distance and depth with precision This is made possible using the signals emitted and the reflections recorded by the sensor to come up with a three dimensional view of the scene These sensors can be extensively applied in robotics for such purposes as obstacle detection and navigation in augmented reality and virtual reality to perform actions with virtual objects in real life environments in games for motion tracking and industrial automation for object identification and measurement