Faced with a $20,000 bill for a decent 3D scanner, three young Australian entrepreneurs decided to focus on building their own iPhone-powered scanner which sells for a fraction of the price.

Eora 3D's scanner was born from the need for a precise laser scanner to verify the accuracy of a large parabolic dish used to focus sunlight on solar panels. The quest led Eora 3D co-founders Rahul Koduri​, Richard Boers and Asfand Khan to design a $199 3D laser scanner powered by any model iPhone 5 or 6 – with support for Android and Windows Phone devices on the way.

The precise Eora 3D scanner, which can be powered by any model iPhone 5 or 6.

Having completed development of the 3D scanner and lined up manufacturers in China, Eora 3D is launching a Kickstarter​ crowdfunding project in September to help cover manufacturing costs and is on the lookout for seed funding as well as Australian manufacturing partners. Eora 3D is a local finalist in the Seedstars World global start-up competition and is set to represent Australia at the finals in Geneva next March.

The cylindrical Eora 3D scanner keeps the price down by relying on a smartphone to do most of the work. The scanner doesn't feature a built-in camera. Instead it projects a green laser beam which sweeps across the object to be scanned. The smartphone controls the laser while photographing the object, capturing several images per second to track the laser and map the contours of the object.