Kinect Station

Competition Rules/Strategy
1

Hi guys, i´ve got a question…
how do you connect the kinect during competition
my team is going to compete next week, and im trying to figure how to connect from the drivers to the kinect station
is it by usb?
or wireless?

2

also, do i have to download the kinect kiosk??

3

There is a USB cable that runs into the driver’s station. It doesn’t matter which driver’s station you’re in, it’ll reach.

4

There is a USB cable for each alliance on the field. Follow the steps here - http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default/files/uploadedFiles/Robotics_Programs/FRC/Game_and_Season__Info/2012_Assets/Getting%20Started%20with%20Microsoft%20Kinect%20for%20FRC.pdf to get the kinect station working. It has everything that you will need to download

5

Also note that you do not need to run the Kinect Kiosk on your computer. There will be a classmate (or comparable laptop) which is connected to the Kinect, running the Kinect Kiosk.

At the WPI Regional, we were the only team to attempt to use the Kinect, and we noticed that the boxes which the Kinect was mounted in were angled away from the designated Kinect area. If you notice this before a match where you plan to use the Kinect, politely approach someone and ask if it can be fixed.

6

Just repeating what everyone else has been telling you.

As they said, there is a long Kinect USB cable that gets moved around between Driver Stations as teams need to use the field Kinect. Make sure you plug it into your Driver Station and test to be sure the Kinect is working with your laptop.

Inform the field crew that you will be using the Kinect so they can prepare, too.

There is a wooden case holding the Kinect at the corner of the field with a player area marked out on the floor. Inside the box is a high-end laptop that repeats the skeleton that your Driver Station receives from the Kinect.
That’s what’s running the Kinect Kiosk software.

The angle of the wooden box really doesn’t matter. It can be crooked. What really matters is the direction that the Kinect is pointed. It’s just sitting in the top of the box and the field crew can adjust it if necessary.
If your skeleton is centered on the screen and you can see all your arms/legs/heads, then the Kinect is aimed correctly.

7

Thanks guys!

8

I would also mention that in your pre-match strategy meetings you should inform your alliance partners that you are using Kinect, in case two or three members also use it. This way you can decide on who gets it. We had one such conflict at North Star. There’s a low probability of a conflict occuring, but do this to make sure.

PLEASE notify field staff that you are using kinect, they will guide you through the process of setting it up. You must notify them, it isn’t just plug and play.

9

Mark by repeating the skeleton you mean one you, the human player, can see?

10

Yeah, the wireframe of joint vertices and the skeleton lines you see on the DS laptop screen on the Kinect tab is repeated on the Kinect station screen, readily visible by the Kinect operator. You’ll also see some sliders for the value of Stick1 and Stick2 and some color level sliders.

11

Yes. Your Driver Station does all the work with the Kinect, but then the skeleton and joystick information is sent both to the robot and to what’s essentially a repeater on the Kiosk computer just so the human player can see him or herself moving and being recognized by the Driver Station.

12

Okay. That’s what I thought. I was confused for a second.

13

Also feel comfortable informing (and reminding as necessary) the referee in that corner. Otherwise, we may accidentally move and obscure your view of your robot.

14

field crew also, they may walk in front of it by mistake or not move people out of the way fast enough. we had to replay a match at Hawaii because of it.

15

Just ran into that issue with the ref blocking.

16

I was a field reset volunteer at an earlier regional and, after a match had to be replayed due to Kinect interference, we were told to (physically, if necessary!) make sure no one went into the taped area during hybrid period if there was someone using the Kinect. If the crew at your regional isn’t already doing the same thing, I would suggest it to them…

17

Our Kinect isn’t working on the field only when we plug out own Kinect in the pit it works. Any ideas?

18

The field crew should be helping you try these things, but in general what you work on depends on what the various Kinect status’s say.
Status to check:
[ul]
[li]On the Driver Station Operation tab[LIST][/li][li]Kinect icon (gray, red or green)[/li][li]Two people icons (gray or green, 1 or 2 green)[/ul][/li][li]On the Driver station Diagnostics Tab[/li][ul]
[li]Kinect light (green, red, or gray)[/li][li]Kinect : status (No Kinect, No Power, In Use, Version #)[/ul][/li][li]On the Driver Station Kinect Skeleton display[ul][/li][li]White Dot[/li][li]Black[/li][li]Green skeleton[/ul][/LIST]General things to try include:[/li][ol]
[li]Connect the Kinect USB directly into a laptop USB port, NOT a hub[/li][li]Try different USB ports on your laptop, switching with joysticks if necessary.[/li][*]Try it with a loaner Classmate from Spare Parts.[/ol]

19

[/li]
The only thing that worked was the loaner classmate. Thanks!