I saw an amazing new 3d vision tool at the Robot and Vision Show today. It is the ifm efector pmd 3d.  This device is a 64X48 pixel distance sensor.  It operates by the time of flight principle.  A pulse of light infared light is emmited by the device which bounces off of object in the field of view and returns to the device through a lens.  Each pixel measures the time required for the light to make the round trip.  By this way it produces a 3D image of the object in front of it. The unit can be configured to output calculated quantities like max height, or volume.  It can also output the entire distance array through a TCP/IP connection.  In addition to its capabilities, it's list price is amazing at only $1450!