Making Things See

Chapter 6. Using the Kinect for Robotics

IN THIS CHAPTER

Forward Kinematics

Inverse Kinematics

Conclusion

In the previous chapter, we took our Kinect data off of the computer screen and turned it into a physical object in the real world. In doing so, we turned the Kinect into a kind of still camera. We used it to capture 3D data about the world in front of it, freezing that data into a solid object preserved forever in plastic. The results were exciting, but they discarded one of the most important aspects of the Kinect’s capacity: the ability to capture movement. In this chapter, we’re going to take the motion captured by the Kinect off the screen and out into the physical world. We’ll build a simple robotic arm and then explore two ways to control ...