The kinect on the Robot

[Greg McKaskle]

Originally Posted by lineskier

. ... I was able to get a perfect vision tracking system working last year by the end of week one. This thing tracked to the target every time. It was gorgeous. Then I got to competition and realized that all my assumptions were wrong. Lighting, reflections, and angles all changed on the real field.

It is a little off topic, but I'd like to hear more about this perfect system that broke when it got to the real field. What did it process? Did it use the retroreflective tape? Why did it break?

I think that sort if information is very valuable to the teams trying to do a vision system. A list of tests that likely make your code fail is often more valuable than anything else you can be given.

Personally, I would want to see the Kinect solution work outside on a cloudy day and with fluorescent and other lights behind the DS wall and shining into the camera. Those are the environmental factors that will be challenging when using the Kinect. We can't see IR, so we don't really know IR pollution until we use a special camera. Personally, I'd love to see teams succeed with Kinect and with camera, and with IMUs. Just make auto exciting to watch.

Greg McKaskle