VSLAM based navigation with Kinect, where do I begin?

asked 2011-02-16 01:21:48 -0600

1079 ●39 ●55 ●65

updated 2016-10-24 08:59:20 -0600

ngrennan
1 ●1 ●1

I'm interested in developing a robot (UAV) indoor navigation system basing on a MS Kinect (or Kinect-like, like the PrimeSense dev kit) sensor. I'm specifically interested in corridor following.

I've recently bought a BeagleBoard-xM platform and installed Ubuntu and ROS on it. I'd like to start off without any flying platform and implement the navigation layer first. So here is my plan (and questions):

I have to buy a sensor for VSLAM (ie. Kinect or so): do you have any suggestions on which one should I choose? I unfortunately wasn't able to connect PrimeSense recently, is it even worth it, or should I stick with the original Kinect?
Which stacks should I start playing with? I'm particularly interested in indoor navigation and attitude estimation (I could fuse with IMU based attitude data afterwards).
I would then try to implement a distributed system (Desktop PC + BB-xM) via ROS, with both peers doing a part of calculations. How would you design such a system, what potential risks do you see right away?

Any suggestions welcome, tom.

edit retag flag offensive close merge delete

Comments

when you see an answer you like, mark it as an accepted answer

mmwise ( 2011-02-17 09:35:03 -0600 )edit

add a comment

3

answered 2011-02-16 03:41:48 -0600

fergs

13902 ●59 ●157 ●196 http://www.robotandchisel.com

I have to buy a sensor for VSLAM (ie. Kinect or so): do you have any suggestions on which one should I choose? I unfortunately wasn't able to connect PrimeSense recently, is it even worth it, or should I stick with the original Kinect?

I was also unable to get a Primesense SDK from them directly, however you might want to continue trying as the Primesense device is quite a bit smaller, lighter, and less power hungry than a Kinect (which certainly has to be a good thing for a UAV).

edit flag offensive delete link

Comments

Thanks fergs, and is there a way to get a Primesense SDK indirectly anyhow?

tom ( 2011-02-17 17:29:01 -0600 )edit

I only got one by winning one in the ROS 3D Contest

fergs ( 2011-02-18 00:50:54 -0600 )edit

add a comment

1

answered 2011-03-21 22:44:02 -0600

rreid
124 ●2 ●6 http://rrfx.net/

ASUS are supposed to be releasing the Xtion PRO Developer Kit, an Primesense SDK based device. It may be easier to obtain than the Primesense SDK. Details are sketchy for a Q2 2011 release. Note that some photos show it without the color sensor (ie. depth only).
Have you tried playing with the RGBD-6D-SLAM entry in the recent OpenNI competition?
Given bandwidth limitations, you may want to decimate the point cloud. This tutorial may be a good starting point.

edit flag offensive delete link

add a comment

1

answered 2011-03-02 17:59:54 -0600

KoenBuys
2314 ●21 ●35 ●56 http://people.mech.kul...

You could start with the Kinect and have a look what Patrick has done in the 3D contest. altitude control However as your onboard resources are limited (unless you're able to compute on the pointclouds from the internal DSP, I'm very interested in this, but I have no time) a combination of a regular camera and ultrasonic height measurement will do just fine I guess. We'll probably have some thesis students working on this also.
Look at this question + ansers: monocular VSLAM
Look at this question: kinect-data-via-router-to-host-pc and my answer: answer

edit flag offensive delete link

Comments

Using DSP would be great, I don't know if it's possible on xM with Ubuntu though, see the information about a bug in xM here: http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntu#DSP . I don't know how to understand this, whether a hardware or a software error is causing problems. I'll read more when I have time...

tom ( 2011-03-02 19:15:07 -0600 )edit

add a comment

0

answered 2011-02-16 01:33:13 -0600

blueskin
284 ●10 ●13 ●23

I unfortunately wasn't able to connect PrimeSense recently, is it even worth it, or should I stick with the original Kinect?

-> I haven't tried Primesense sensor but I'd say it is better to go with Kinect because there's more potential for it and lot of people are working in this direction (so more available sources). Also primesense programs libraries work with Kinect. I've used Mesa SR3K and SR4K but Kinect outperforms easily in speed, resolution and robustness.

edit flag offensive delete link

add a comment

VSLAM based navigation with Kinect, where do I begin?

Comments

4 Answers

Comments

Comments

Question Tools

Stats

Related questions

VSLAM based navigation with Kinect, where do I begin? edit

Comments

4 Answers

Comments

Comments

Question Tools

Stats

Related questions

VSLAM based navigation with Kinect, where do I begin?