• Trimble has introduced a device that it says eliminates the need to carry several kinds of grade rods for measuring at construction sites.
• The device, called the Digirod, is handheld and has a built-in laser receiver and a tilt meter to measure grades compensate for user variations and gives readouts in decimal feet or inch fractions.
• The new unit can do the jobs of direct elevation rods, cut/fill rods and indirect reading rods.

From the article:

From the "groma" with its right angles and plumb bobs used 3,000 years ago to modern-day grade rods, surveyors have been using some type of rod in their work. A new grading device claims to eliminate the need for grade rods when checking grades with a rotating laser. ...