Re: How are they going to use Kinect?
 

Ah. Its great that you tried it but disappointing it didn't work. I guess I didn't think about how hard dead-zones would be to input. sadly our arms are not spring-loaded like the joysticks... :(
Maybe writing a sort of mobile dead zone (averaging the forward power and zeroing the twist value if the two arm values are close enough to each other) would help. If it is easy to interpret, maybe you could use body tilt for twist and only one arm for power. That would leave the arm open to control a mech, which worked excellently in the video.

I can't wait to have fun flailing for the camera, but I think were about to break until kickoff so maybe we'll know WHY we are flailing by the time we try it out. :D
The anticipation is killing me!

Re: How are they going to use Kinect?
 

I think the Kinect will be used in the finale, that is the only place for it that would be practical.

Re: How are they going to use Kinect?
 

I think it was 2008 that had the infrared "suplement" available to the autonomous at the beginning. With it you could send up to four different signals to the bot to override the autonomous programming. I see something similar for Kinect.

Sorry to bring back an old(er) thread, but if any of the people here who are think about the programming side of the Kinect on a robot want to contribute at http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=99275 it would be greatly appreciated.

Re: How are they going to use Kinect?
 

I think if we are using Kinect, it would almost certainly be possible to regulate how much you use it. Instead of forcing us to use it full-on, we might have to use it for at least one function. The rules may be more specific. But if we can just drive, and, say, nod to close a claw, or something similar, it could work very well. Full drive is probably too complex to do well, but a partial command might just be a helpful aid. Anybody tried head based gestures? Could be handy!

Re: How are they going to use Kinect?
 

I wondering if maybe they'll use it to allow teams to control a movable part of the field ... or maybe control a placebo bot.

Re: How are they going to use Kinect?
 

I doubt a placebo bot. They'd have to provide them at competition, and to be fair, let us practice with them somehow. Too much money. Unless, of course, Microsoft is paying! :) The field seems likelier, but with the field problems I've seen in past years, I shudder to imagine the time-consuming errors that could occur if the field were to move. But, an elevator or something, would be very cool, no? I wonder, could the visual just be fed into the driver station? That might be it. We could just be vastly overthinking it. It seems to be a habit in FRC teams, so...

Re: How are they going to use Kinect?
 

I agree a placebo bot is probably too much (but one could hope :rolleyes: )

Moving a field component (like a door) or a goal (on a track system) could be easily achieved though.

I doubt they would us it to feed camera data to the driver stations as they could use an inexpensive camera for that, not the Kinnect sensor ($$$).

Re: How are they going to use Kinect?
 

I really hope they make kids do up downs or jumping jacks to raise a meter. It would be cool to see first take a crack at an alternative approach to the fight against obesity in a way different from generic sports.

Not to mention seeing a bunch of kids doing up downs next to robots would be pretty entertaining·

Re: How are they going to use Kinect?
 

Yeah, but then Microsoft doesn't get advertised to all the smart, technologically knowledgeable young consumers.....

Re: How are they going to use Kinect?
 

Well, I don't know about you guys, but just becuase I'm skinny doesn't mean I'm healtyhy enough for that. It'll be a lot less entertaining if we all just end up wheezing behind the camera as those long hours in front of Chief Delphi start showing.
:p

Re: How are they going to use Kinect?
 

This is the year that Calum Pearson gets his wish. The entire field will be on a 3-axis moveable platform, ala Cirque du Soleil's Kà, all controlled by kinect.

Re: How are they going to use Kinect?
 

I believe they may have us use it with the human player, just a hunch. Maybe it's FISRT's way of us getting some exercise because sooo many of us have weight issues they may either think it looks good and obtain money from government (or other health nut group) for promoting healthy activity in kids or the want to provide us with a new challenge because of the kinect's horrible interface.


Or just mount it on the robot as a replacement of the webcam for better targeting (i would prefer a ping sensor over that but at least its a step up) which as an example from last year could have been used to guide the minibot directly to the center of the pole with 3D like imaging.

Remember just a hunch.