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MIT Drone Finds Its Way Using Kinect Vision
garymortimer writes "This MIT multicopter is able to fly in GPS denied environments by creating a 3D map of its surroundings on the fly (no pun intended) based on point clouds generated by a Kinect. Also pretty handy for avoiding trees and other obstacles outside at low level. This processing is onboard, unlike other systems that depend on motion capture rigs."
Remote Objective Forensic Lead Copter.
...on the fly (no pun intended)...
Heehee, oh stop my sides are getting soar
Remote Objective Forensic Lead MIT Funded And Open-source Copter - Well, we can hope.
before the Kinect came out?
Frankly, I'm pretty sure most of this stuff *already* existed before the Kinect came out. I'm just wondering exactly how much Microsoft mass producing the hardware saved the researchers on having to make their own devices.
I imagine it's quite a bit since we went from "hardly any talk about robot vision except about how goddamned hard it is" to "A NEW ROBOT/CAMERA/WHAT HAVE YOU USING THE KINECT AS ITS EYEBALLS!!!!!" every week once the Kinect was out for a month.
I'm complaining, yeah, but I'm also trying to put things into perspective. These aren't leaps and bounds of tech, they're just leaps and bounds of people actually making use of the damned hardware since they don't have to sell their second child to pay for it.
Crowdsourcing I guess? Instead of 2-3 sterile environments trying to figure out robot vision algorithms, now a bajillion institutes and hobbyists are working on the problem. I guess one way or the other, this is a big step in the fields of autonomous robotics and so on. Now if only we could work on the goddamned speech recognition software... The hardware for that's been around for ages and yet people haven't been messing about with it as much as they do with the Kinect.
on the fly (no pun intended)
Kids these days, wasting perfectly good puns like that.
This MIT multicopter is able to fly in GPS denied environments by creating a 3D map of its surroundings on the fly (no pun intended) based on point clouds generated by a Kinect.
No pun intended = "I came up with a weak pun, but I don't want people to blame me for it"
#DeleteChrome
As much as it's unpopular, we should all thank Microsoft for putting this great piece of kit out in the public and even moreso for not going after the API which is floatng out there like many corporations do nowadays.
I call it 'The Aristocrats'
Giggling at puns again? C'mon, surely you've got past that stage in life?
Puns are droll. There's no need to apologise for them, unless they are truly poor. There's no need to point them out - it's like explaining a bad joke.
This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
According to TFV the "multicopter" uses onboard processing to find reference points between successive video frames, which it then uses to determine how fast and how far the drone moves.
However, the actual map generation and navigation is handled by a separate computer.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
Here's a question: All these university researchers are using Wii controllers and Kinect devices to do research. How come they didn't invent this stuff themselves? Is it because they couldn't think in mass-market terms so their solutions were overly complex and expensive?
Now here's another question: Why don't Nintendo and Microsoft make developers kits for their devices sans game console? Or even better, make the open source (I can dream)?
These aren't leaps and bounds of tech, they're just leaps and bounds of people actually making use of the damned hardware since they don't have to sell their second child to pay for it.
Crowdsourcing I guess? Instead of 2-3 sterile environments trying to figure out robot vision algorithms, now a bajillion institutes and hobbyists are working on the problem
Working on *which* problem exactly?
I don't see any of those people working on artificial vision algorithms. What they are doing is using a "good enough" vision algorithm which comes bundled with the hardware to develop applications for artificial vision.
I imagine we'll be seeing this used in autonomous vehicles pretty soon. Having four kinects on board with some basic processing could definitely replace some or all of the bulky LIDAR systems.
I said no... but I missed and it came out yes.
that's just for the last few weeks of course (more before that), and all are repeats of propagandic unclear disarmings (except for some irish 'magic' taking place?).. under represented we remain? for each of the innocents harmed in any way......
the chosen ones desires search = all the other stories combined.
What did you say, MIT made a roflcopter?
Genius!
...yet it always seems that if MIT does it, it is somehow new and innovative regardless of previous art. Has anyone noticed this?
You can find the work done previously by just searching "kinect quadrotor" on google.
Just don't move too fast or it will never see you.
The Kinect's update speed is ludicrously slow for a flying machine's collision avoidance system. A bird can potentially fly past the device between frames, and at high speeds there's no way it could keep up object avoidance.
Good luck, but you'll probably have to build your own.
If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits
Maybe Google can replace the Google van with Google drones that use this technology. Can you imagine seeing a dozen of these flying through your neighborhood?
I imagine we'll be seeing this used in autonomous vehicles pretty soon. Having four kinects on board with some basic processing could definitely replace some or all of the bulky LIDAR systems.
Won't work. The Kinect's structured light approach only works when you can overpower ambient light with the Kinect's little infrared source. That's indoor or night only, and short range. LIDAR units work in bright sunlight because, for a few nanoseconds per cycle, they're brighter than the sun in their portion of the spectrum.
Short range LIDAR units aren't bulky. They're smaller than the Kinect. For more range, you need bigger collecting optics.
Multiple-camera systems can now do stereo reasonably well without a structured illumination source. The purpose of the Kinect's dot pattern is to put some texture on uniform surfaces, like floors and walls, so the stereo algorithm can lock in. It doesn't matter what you project, as long as it has lots of edges in it. Outdoors, you usually have enough texture for stereo lockup. The most notable exception is fresh snow, for which humans sometimes have "white-out", losing depth perception.
Lets just stop saying "no pun intended", it stupid.
I have to suspect you were taking this man seriously and did not know who he is, and that post flew over your head. That is his style of writing, it's his objective to be as offensive, egoistic and ostensibly manly as possible to the point it becomes amusing and entertaining to the reader (while still delivering something vaguely similar to a point beneath all that verbal vomit). I would like to see how you'd rage if you read his other posts, like a completely clueless person who watches the Onion News Network for the first time and blogs about it.
But far be it from me to stop you from taking things seriously and not knowing where the joke begins.
mix this with BIM software and you have a winner. can i be named on the patent for having came up with the idea!! =D
so it doesn't clean the same corner ten times while ignoring the rest of the room?
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
all the kids who want to grow up and be airplane pilots!
Sure there's military application but this could provide the home butler you always wanted.
It's like the mind going AWOL, it's there somewhere
Thansk to MS for making this available. I know most of you dont like the statement. But in this case that is the reality.
Robotic Optical Flight Location Copter
Well Microsoft is suppose to be coming out with a more scientific version of the Kinect and developments like this only increase the market for it.
All that remains is to add a robot arm to the copter that can (a) open/close the fridge and (b) pick up a beer.