Energy-efficient adaptive 3D sensing

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• capturing, using one or more cameras of a system, image data of a real-world scene;
• computing an attention mask based on the image data;
• commanding one or more projectors of the system to send a distributed laser beam into an area of the real-world scene based on the attention mask;
• capturing, using the one or more cameras, three-dimensional (3D) sensing image data of the area of the real-world scene while one or more projectors are sending the distributed laser beam into the area of the real-world scene;
• and
• generating 3D sensing data for the real-world scene based on the 3D sensing image data.

A non-transitory computer-storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

• capturing, using one or more cameras, image data of a real-world scene;
• computing an attention mask based on the image data;
• commanding one or more projectors to send a distributed laser beam into an area of the real-world scene based on the attention mask;
• capturing, using the one or more cameras, three-dimensional (3D) sensing image data of the area of the real-world scene while one or more projectors are sending the distributed laser beam into the area of the real-world scene;
• and
• generating 3D sensing data for the real-world scene based on the 3D sensing image data.