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Unread 07-12-2010, 18:06
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VEX Robotics Engineer
AKA: Arthur Dutra IV; NERD #18
FRC #0148 (Robowranglers)
Team Role: Engineer
 
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Re: Potential impacts of Kinect on this years competition

One possible use of a Kinect on a mobile robot: SLAM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRPEns8MS2o

Even simplistically, it opens up a world of opportunities for proprioceptive and exteroceptive sensors. Imagine a game that had two different color, same-sized objects, such as the balls in the 2008 Overdrive game. The Kinect could sense a round object, determine the color, and ascertain how far away it is.

This could be used to design "smarter" robots that employ a greater level of autonomy. Imagine driving a robot near a ball in 2008, and pushing an "Acquire Ball" button on the operator interface, and have the robot automatically sense the right ball, drive up to it, and pick it up with your manipulator.

And dollar for dollar, the Kinect is the same price as the Axis ethernet cameras we already use on the robots, but provides a lot more functionality. The only downside at the moment is interfacing, but a breakout board could be made to interface the Kinect with a cRIO-supported communication protocol (ethernet, serial, etc).
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Art Dutra IV
Robotics Engineer, VEX Robotics, Inc., a subsidiary of Innovation First International (IFI)
Robowranglers Team 148 | GUS Robotics Team 228 (Alumni) | Rho Beta Epsilon (Alumni) | @arthurdutra

世上无难事,只怕有心人.
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