Kinect Questions

[Al Skierkiewicz]

More accurately the above link...

Q: What can I do with the Kinect?

The Kinect sensor, in conjunction with the Microsoft Kinect SDK, can interpret human motion and generate a map of 20 skeletal points (joints) each containing X, Y, and Z coordinates and a quality measure. From this data gestures can be analyzed - such as various arm, leg, and other body motions.

Q: How can my team get started learning about using the Kinect before kickoff?

If you have a Kinect sensor, it can be attached to a computer running Microsoft Windows 7. Employing a Microsoft software development tool, such as the free Visual Studio Express C# Edition, and the Kinect SDK available from the Microsoft Research web site will allow you to look at the provided sample programs to get an idea of what the Kinect can do.

FIRST will provide Kinect software tools at Kickoff, but looking at the available tools and sample will help give you an idea of the capabilities of the sensor.

Q: Can I put the Kinect on my robot to detect other robots or field elements?

While the focus for Kinect in 2012 is at the operator level, as described above, there are no plans to prohibit teams from implementing the Kinect sensor on the robot.

Emphasis mine. I read that as "if you plan on using Kinect on the robot, some development will be needed. The SDK tools appear to be written for Windows 7."