Kinect for testing algorithms

2
votes

Can I use kinect sensor for testing my algorithms related to depth measurement? Have someone already tried this?

I have researched a bit, and have thus few questions -

  1. is there a linux driver to work with kinect?

  2. Which kinect is advisable? Kinect v1 or v2?

  3. is there a way that I can get the data on my computer using a USB cable? As far as I have seen, the kinect needs to be modified ( i.e add a 12 V power supply ). Does anyone know the specifications of this power supply? How many ampere should the power supply support?

  4. lastly why is there is such a massive price difference between the usb adaptor for Kinect V1 ( for xBox 360 - 4 pounds ) and Kinect V2 ( for Xbox one - 50 pounds), although both of them simply divert power and data cable as far as I understand.

1
kinect

1 Answers

1
votes

I'm not sure whether the Kinect sensor is appropriate for testing your algorithms given that I don't know the specifics, but to answer your other questions:

  1. Yes, there are drivers such as OpenKinect's libfreenect for Kinectv1 or libfreenect2 for Kinectv2 for Linux.

Note that I only have experience with the official Kinect SDK. If you care about skeletal tracking quality, you should probably use the official Kinect SDK on Windows. If you don't care about the skeleton tracking, that gives you a lot more options.

  1. Kinect v2 - it has better specs. Certain requirements might call for using Kinect v1, but generally, Kinect v2 is the default choice.

  2. No, you need the adapter/power supply to connect it to a PC. The official power supply is 2.67A at 12V. There are many tutorials online for DIY, such as this YouTube video: How to Hack Xbox One Kinect to Work on Windows 10 PC

Kinect v2 adapter power label

  1. Supply and demand. The adapters are no longer being manufactured and there is more demand for the Kinect v2 adapters.