Both manufacturers and users of pool robots often share the same frustrations:

“Even with auto-cleaning on, the pool corners stay dirty.”

“The robot gets lost on curved floors—coverage isn’t guaranteed.”

Achieving accurate mapping and stable positioning in complex real-world pool environments has long been a technical challenge across the industry.

This is exactly what Benewake and our pool-robot partners have been dedicated to solving over the past two years. Building on the success of the first-generation underwater LiDAR, the TF-Luna Underwater Edition, we are now proud to introduce the new TF-UW500 — engineered to deliver breakthroughs in both precision mapping and stable positioning, leading the underwater cleaning industry beyond the “blind-sweeping” era.

Range Revolution: From 0.55m to Over 5m

Redefining Underwater Perception

The TF-UW500 adopts a dToF (direct Time of Flight) design and employs a Class 1 eye-safe visible laser source. While maintaining the compact size and low power consumption of its predecessor, it boosts the detection range in low-turbidity water by over 10×, from 0.55 meters to more than 5 meters.

Inheriting LiDAR’s natural advantages over ultrasonic sensors — including smaller spot size, higher directionality, larger incident angle range, and zero multi-path effect — the TF-UW500 further closes critical performance gaps in strong ambient light and high-turbidity environments.

Full-Chain Upgrade from Mapping to Positioning

With centimeter-level accuracy and millimeter-level repeatability, the TF-UW500 achieves exceptional ranging precision. The extended detection range enables the complete mapping of curved pool floors, expanding applicability to irregularly shaped pools. It also allows for full-path coordinate positioning in most residential pools, minimizing inertial drift and enabling straighter, more stable navigation — ultimately boosting cleaning efficiency and coverage.

Make LiDAR Adapt to the Pool — Not the Pool Adapt to the LiDAR

Sun-Proof: Enhanced Resistance to Strong Ambient Light

Our field research across North America, Europe, and Australia shows that mid-summer sunlight in major markets can exceed 160 Klux—far above the 100 Klux limit of typical LiDARs. Through targeted hardware filtering and software optimization, the TF-UW500 ensures robust performance under both “Mediterranean sunshine” and “Southern California glare.”

Built for Real Pools: Tackling Turbidity

Pools in need of cleaning are rarely crystal clear. Family vacations, summer storms, or stirred-up sediments can all reduce visibility. TF-UW500 is designed to maintain reliable perception not just in ideal lab conditions, but in realistic, everyday pool environments, where dependable sensing matters most.

Optimized for Diverse Pool Materials

From concrete, fiberglass, vinyl, marble, and pebble stone to colorful tiles, polished glass mosaics, and crystal glazes, Benewake has tested over ten common pool surface materials with varying reflectivities and finishes. These data feed into our calibration models, ensuring consistent accuracy across materials—eliminating “wobbling” navigation and reducing customer complaints or returns caused by surface irregularities.

Consumer-Grade LiDAR, Built for Scale

Reliability and Manufacturability at Its Core

As the first LiDAR supplier to achieve hundreds of thousands of unit shipments in the pool segment, Benewake understands that “mass-producible and affordable” are just as vital as high performance.

Every Benewake product adheres to four guiding principles:

Component Availability, Product Reliability, Process Manufacturability, and Commercial Viability.

Our R&D team conducts thousands of hours of high-temperature reliability testing on key components and continuously refines design, process, and material selection — ensuring that each LiDAR unit is truly production-ready, highly reliable, and cost-effective.

With the mass production of the TF-UW500 now underway, this milestone marks only the beginning. Building upon this robust LiDAR transceiver platform, Benewake will continue to develop diverse forms of underwater LiDAR, working alongside industry partners to define the next generation of pool sensing standards — driving continuous innovation in smart pool robotics.

The Benewake TF-UW500 is now officially available worldwide.

We invite robotics companies and developer partners to request product samples and join us in shaping the future of underwater perception.