Kinect Hackers Are Changing the Future of Robotics

For 25 years, the field of robotics has been bedeviled by a fundamental problem: If a robot is to move through the world, it needs to be able to create a map of its environment and understand its place within it. Roboticists have developed tools to accomplish this task, known as simultaneous localization and mapping, or SLAM. But the sensors required to build that map have traditionally been either expensive and bulky or cheap and inaccurate. On November 4, a solution was discovered—in a videogame. Thats the day Microsoft released the Kinect for Xbox 360, a $150 add-on that allows players to direct the action in a game simply by moving their bodies. Most of the world focused on the controller-free interface, but roboticists saw something else entirely: an affordable, lightweight camera that could capture 3-D images in real time. Within weeks of the devices release, YouTube was filled with videos of Kinect-enabled robots. A group from UC Berkeley strapped a Kinect to a quadrotor—a small helicopter with four propellers—enabling it to fly autonomously around a room. A couple of students at the University of Bundeswehr Munich attached a Kinect to a robotic car and sent it through an obstacle course.

Featured Product

Strain Wave Gearheads by maxon - Highly precise, compact, and efficient.

Strain Wave Gearheads by maxon - Highly precise, compact, and efficient.

Strain wave gearheads are ideal for use in applications requiring precision motion control and high torque transmission in a compact design. maxon strain wave gearheads are a specialized type of gearhead where precision and compact design are crucial. This type of gearhead is often used in applications in a confined space. With their advanced gear tooth design, maxon's strain wave gearheads provide high efficiency and good back drivability. Typical applications include: Robotics, Aerospace, Medical technology and Optical systems .