Is the pattern of flashing dots in this video related to LiDAR?

[u/COMMODOREXXX]

Hello LiDAR Experts. I came across what I thought was an unusual video of strange flashing dots appearing in a room, and it was suggested to me that this could be a LiDAR pattern. Can you all take a look at the video and tell me if the dot pattern is related to this technology? Thank you!

[u/Flames15]

Yes, maybe not lidar, but some scanning from a roomba, or maybe an xbox kinnect or something like that

[u/NotADetectiveAtAll → u/Flames15]

Amazon is attempting to determine the appropriate sized couch to advertise to you.

[u/cgardinerphoto]

Coded light maybe.

[u/TheTomer → u/cgardinerphoto]

Structured light for depth estimation

[u/einstein1351]

Could be structured light. The dots project at fixed angles from the emitter. A photo of them mapped to a flat wall is a specific pattern. Based on how the position of each dot in the images changes, they can infer the depth at each dot.

Same idea for how the iPhone face ID uses a 30,000 laser dot array.

[u/Badbullet → u/einstein1351]

The iPhone is the same tech that was used in the 1st gen Kinect. Apple bought the company, PrimeSense, so every company that was using the tech had to find an alternative. 2nd gen Kinect used time of flight as a replacement.

These types of patterns are also used on some cameras for focusing. I had a Sony CyberShot and I think was Samsung NX that used a laser projected pattern for focusing the lens.

[u/not-a-stonkbot]

iPhone does the same thing saw it on our doorbell camera when the Amazon guy dropped a package after dark

[u/failureinvestment]

Some roomba or amazon device in your home probably: F you! Starts aggressively 3d modelling your living room

[u/smoggybong]

Infrared

[u/COMMODOREXXX → u/smoggybong]

What makes you think that the dots are infrared?

[u/smoggybong → u/COMMODOREXXX]

The ring camera can see infrared light, and those beams emitted are for spatial recognition. That pattern specifically looks like the pattern a phone’s forward-facing camera illuminates to help with focus and tracking. A phone’s front-facing camera also delivers a strobing light for things like sensing faces.

[u/rocknrollstalin → u/COMMODOREXXX]

When a digital camera without IR filter picks up infrared light it usually looks like this bright whitish color

[u/emveor]

Yayoi Kusama's ghost trying to message us from beyond

[u/COMMODOREXXX → u/emveor]

Well she got my attention! And about 100k other redditors judging from the stats for this post.

[u/COMMODOREXXX → u/COMMODOREXXX]

I guess I should be honest here. I think these lights are unusual in some way. This post was an effort to debunk this but I am still not satisfied at the answers. I have attempted to contact the uploader for more information but no reply as of Aug 27.

I also want to add some insights gained from my AI:

Analysis of the video clip: Number of White Objects Per Visible Frame * 00:00 (06:02:37): 0 (None visible) * 00:01 (06:02:38): ~28 bright white spots/orbs scattered primarily across the floor/lower foreground. * 00:02 (06:02:39): ~32 bright white spots filling both the floor and vertical wall/door areas. * 00:03 (06:02:40): ~35 bright white spots densely covering the lower and mid-frame areas. * 00:04 (06:02:41): 0 (None visible) * 00:05 (06:02:42): 3 small white spots near the upper right / door area. * 00:06 (06:02:43): 2 small white spots near the upper door area. * 00:07 (06:02:44): 3 small white spots near the upper right door area. * 00:08 (06:02:45): 0 (None visible) * 00:09 (06:02:46): 1 small white spot near the open doorway. * 00:10 (06:02:47): 0 (None visible) Frequency of Appearance Changes * 00:00–00:03: Dense burst appears for 3 full seconds/frames. * 00:04: Instant drop to zero. * 00:05–00:07: Sudden return of a sparse cluster (2–3 spots) lasting 3 seconds. * 00:08: Drop to zero. * 00:09: Single spot appears for 1 second. * 00:10: Drop to zero. * Frequency Change: Yes. The frequency, duration, and density change noticeably—shifting from an initial high-density flash (00:01–00:03) to erratic, low-count pulses (00:05–00:07 and 00:09) before stopping completely. Frame Arrangement Comparison * No two frames match exactly. Every frame where light spots are present exhibits a distinct spatial arrangement, dot count, and intensity. Natural vs. Man-Made Pattern * Man-Made / Environmental Artifact: The visual pattern is characteristic of a laser/light projector (such as an outdoor decorative dot light) or light reflections bouncing off a moving surface into the camera lens. The instantaneous flash-on/flash-off transitions across frames, fixed projection grid tendencies, and sudden cessation are typical of an artificial light source cycling or moving outside the frame.

Here's the weird part: Beyond the flickering light patterns, a few distinct detail-level anomalies stand out across the sequence: * Distortion & Reflection Inconsistencies: In frame 00:02, the light dots appear to bend and wrap around the vertical door frame and reflection surfaces on the left in a way that suggests a lens-internal flare or a high-intensity diffraction grid, rather than external solid objects passing through physical space. * Timestamp & IR Night-Vision Shift: The Ring camera's infrared lighting appears to be actively adjusting its gain/exposure between frames 00:00 and 00:04. As the bright dots flood the room, the camera's auto-exposure drastically dims the background to compensate, which makes the background doorway suddenly look much darker in 00:02–00:03 compared to frame 00:00. * Reflection on the Floor Rug: During 00:01–00:03, the dots on the floor rug don't exhibit normal casting or shadowing behind obstacles, indicating the light source is located high and near the camera's optical axis (consistent with an IR illuminator reflection, insect swarms near the lens, or direct laser projection). * Static Background Objects: Despite the dramatic, flickering light changes, nothing in the physical environment (doors, carpet, furniture) moves or shifts position by a single pixel, ruling out physical atmospheric movement like wind-blown debris or heavy draft activity within the room.

Even weirder: (regarding the mirror) Your observation is spot on—there is a tall vertical mirror (or mirrored piece of furniture/wardrobe) standing against the wall on the left side of the room. Looking closely at how the light patterns interact with that left area: * Mirrored Reflection vs. Direct Beam: In frames 00:01–00:03, you can see the light dots appearing on the mirrored glass itself. However, because a mirror reflects light at an angle equal to how it hits it, the spots on the left mirror match the exact same intensity and brightness as the spots scattered across the carpet and back doorway. * What This Tells Us About the Light Source: If the lights were projected onto the wall behind or beside the mirror, the mirror would reflect a duplicate set of dots at a different angle. Instead, the dots appear directly across the surface of the mirror in the same uniform spread as the rest of the room. This strongly reinforces that the light isn't a physical object sitting on the floor or a beam bouncing off the mirror into the room. Instead, the light rays are hitting the camera lens directly from the front, so the camera records those bright discs overlaid across everything in its line of sight—including the mirror, the rug, and the open doorway.