I saw this on Seeed Studio’s site:
The Distance Sensor from Hell!
No, they’re not offering this for the Raspberry Pi. (At least not yet. . .)
This was put up as a picture of what a distance sensor, (off an Apache attack helicopter?!), looks like.
However they do have some interesting sensors that are a bit different than the standard IR/Ultrasonic sensors.
- Doppler Radar.
https://wiki.seeedstudio.com/Grove-Doppler-Radar/
Supposedly, it makes the IR/Ultrasonic sensors obsolete. And, of course, the color of the surface doesn’t matter.
- TF-Mini_LIDAR.
https://wiki.seeedstudio.com/Grove-TF_Mini_LiDAR/
This is like a Dexter IR Distance Sensor that has serious steroid issues. Unfortunately, there’s no place for the googly-eyes, so that’s a no-go for me. 
- Grove TOF Distance sensor.
https://wiki.seeedstudio.com/Grove-Time_of_Flight_Distance_Sensor-VL53L0X/
It has some impressive spec’s, including a vertical-cavity laser, (though I don’t know how they compare to the DI version), but like the other - no googly eyes. 
- The Hypersen TOF distance sensor - out to 35 meters!
https://www.seeedstudio.com/HPS-167-ToF-Infrared-Distance-Measuring-sensor-0-08-35-p-3144.html
This is a MONSTER looking beast, (though the screen-shot I had to take may exaggerate the size) - it doesn’t NEED googly eyes!
All of these show Raspberry Pi support as “to-do”, which in Seeed-speak means “when someone else develops the libraries for us”, so software is a project all its own.
However, if you want the bleeding edge, (or, if Dave wants to look like something out of a post-Apocalypse survival movie), then these are for you.