ROS Programming: Building Powerful Robots

Running find_object_2d nodes using depth sensors

Using a webcam, we can only find the 2D position and orientation of an object, but what should we use if we need the 3D coordinates of the object? We could simply use a depth sensor like the Kinect and run these same nodes. For interfacing the Kinect with ROS, we need to install some driver packages. The Kinect can deliver both RGB and depth data. Using RGB data, the object detector detects the object, and using the depth value, it computes the distance from the sensor too.

Here are the dependent packages for working with the Kinect sensor:

• If you are using the Xbox Kinect 360, which is the first Kinect, you have to install the following package to get it working:

    $ sudo apt-get install ...