how to make robot follow person using kinect

Question

i've did a diagram on how to achieve my mission which is make my robot(lego nxt) follow a person using kinect but i don't know how to program it in visual programming language. can anybody help me? i don't know anything about vpl but this is the only way to program my lego nxt robot with kinect. my competition is starting in two weeks. 

Answer 1

The first thing to do is to review the Kinect postings in this forum. There have been a number of discussions around using Kinect with VPL on this group. Please review and see if these help at all

Answer 2

I am assuming that you are using the Kinect off of the robot to replace a device like an XBox controller?  I am creating a few videos with source code for a follow-me service.  It basically uses the Kinect center of body mass tracking so the robot follows the person.  Although this is based on the Kinect and the PC being part of the robot, the basic position information extraction from the Kinect in VPL should give you a start.  

http://www.youtube.com/user/tchristell?feature=mhee 

There is also some example code on my SkyDrive: https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=941a5cafb62687b4&resid=941A5CAFB62687B4!127&id=941A5CAFB62687B4%21127

 

Answer 3

I should also add that the Z coordinate (distance) is a very important component, and one that the Kinect returns.

Answer 4

dear todd christell, i'm the one who commented on your wordpress blog. i'm still stuck with the "asembly binding logging is turned off" problem. i really need help right now. the competition is next week

Answer 5

Have you done any base line troubleshooting on the problem?

First off, run one of the programs on the the Kinect Sample Browser.  If this works then -->

Confirm that your VPL software install is working by creating a new project, placing the Kinect service in the diagram and then going to the configuration and changing the angle to 20 degrees.  Run the program.

Do you see any errors? If you don't, then-->

Does the Kinect change angle?  If it does, then you are communicating with the Kinect. If you don't then -->

Do you see output from the IR laser (it is on the left as you look at the Kinect)?  If not, then you you are not initializing the Kinect (the first thing the service does when the program starts).

If everything is good, are you still trying to get the sample program to work directly, or have you used it as a template to create your own application.  You may want to start from a clean project and simply duplicate the logic (including the Kinect configuration) and see if that helps. 

Answer 6

Closing this thread because of inactivity.  If you still need assistance please open a new thread as this will get more attention.  

Todd