Kinect

Technical Control System
1

Hi,

I have been trying to setup the kinect, but the driver station is not recognizing it. I have followed the official tutorial exactly, three times now. Are there more recent things i am missing? I am connected directly to the crio with an ethernet and my laptop and the kinect is hooked up to the laptop.

2

Although I can’t be sure exactly of your problem, this sounds very similar to something that happened to us when we were first beta testing the Kinect. (http://team1912.com/beta%20testing/ktask3.html) Perhaps this of some of our other Kinect documentation at http://team1912.com/beta_testing.html can help you in some way.

3

The latest version of the “Getting Started with Microsoft Kinect for FRC” document is dated March 1st, 2012. Is that the version you are using? It has 3 pages of troubleshooting tips. Have you tried those?

4

Remember to use the 1.0 drivers, the 1.5 drivers don’t work with the FIRST software.

The kinect also needs to be plugged into a separate computer from the driver station.

5

Not true. Why did you say this?

6

I don’t know any teams who managed to get the Kinect Server working on the Classmate.

7

I know dozens and never failed to get it running on any Classmate I worked on.
I have a Classmate running the Kinect Server in my hands now.

The problem with Classmates is that the response was very slow.
If that’s what was meant.

8

I do not have the classmate with me right now, but that might be the issue. Where can I get the older drivers?

Also, the tutorial I am reading is dated from 2011. I will be bringing a separate laptop with me tomorrow to try it with a lot better processor.

9

Here is the Kinect SDK v1.0.0.45 needed by the FRC Kinect Server:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindows/develop/beta.aspx

The link came from the installation directions here: http://firstforge.wpi.edu/sf/sfmain/do/go/doc1300?returnUrlKey=1349096485699
which should be the document you are following.

10

Do you remember where you got this tutorial from 2011? What’s the exact date?

11

The IP address for the Kinect Kiosk (though this may just be the default and changeable, I’m not sure) via the Kinect Starter guide is:

Blue Alliance IP: 10.0.100.15
Red Alliance IP: 10.0.100.16

Whereas the Classmate IP must be 10.x.x.5

In any case, while it may be possible to change things around to test it, it would be highly recommended to keep your setup as close to the official field specifications as possible to prevent any hidden problems.

12

Nothing unusual with the two Kiosk IP addresses. Those are correct.
All that means is that the netmask must be 255.0.0.0 for the Classmate (10.42.28.5) to talk to the Kiosk (10.0.100.15).
How did you think the Driver Station (10.te.am.5) successfully talks to FMS (10.0.100.x)?

In any case, the Kiosk isn’t part of getting the Kinect working with the Driver Station. It’s a whole separate thing.
The Kiosk is simply a second PC that repeats what the Driver Station is producing.
The Kinect cannot be connected directly to a Kiosk.
That’s why the Kiosk isn’t even mentioned in the Getting Started with Microsoft Kinect for FRC document.

13

Ah, I see what you’re getting at. So the Kiosk is just a repeater to get the information from the Kinect station to the Driver station without doing anything to it? I was under the impression it was necessary to the FRC side of things.

For the record, I stand by my statement that teams should keep the testing environment as close to the official environment as possible, and that includes making sure the Kinect works properly on a second computer via the Kiosk. For consistency’s sake, it might be best to stick to the more official layout, though I thank you for pointing out that it is possible otherwise.

14

Stop, halt, pause, wait. (it’s a line from a play)
You have it quite mixed up.

This is the way it must be, for the field or at home. There are not different cases.
Read the documentation: Getting Started with Microsoft Kinect for FRC
In particular see page 4, step 3: 3. Plug your Microsoft Kinect into your Driver Station laptop.

  • The Kinect plugs into the Driver Station - always
  • The Kinect never, ever plugs into the Kiosk
    On the field, the Kiosk will repeat what the Driver Station tells it about what the Kinect is doing. The Kiosk receives this information from the Kinect Server running on the Driver Station via Ethernet.

It is NOT possible otherwise.

15

Ok, so it’s the Kinect Server, not the Kinect Kiosk, which reads the Kinect data… the kinect kiosk must be running on a separate computer, however, it is the server which handles the kinect and that runs on the classmate, and the kiosk only outputs the data from the server?

I probably got the Kiosk and Server confused, then.

16

You got it.
The Kiosks are simply an extra to repeat the Kinect skeleton just to give the dancing human player an enlarged feedback when he or she is far from the Driver Station.

That makes sense.