Computer Vision & Image Processing

Abstract

Hopefully, by this point some of the Kinect’s magic has worn off and you can see the machine for what it really is: two cameras with varying degrees of sophistication and a laser pointer. Barring the exorbitant cost of fielding a time of flight (ToF) camera, recreating a device that is conceptually similar to the Kinect in your own garage is not impossible. Getting the color, depth, and infrared streams from it could be technically challenging, but they are essentially a solved problem. What sets the Kinect apart from such a hobbyist device, however, other than its precision manufacturing and marginally superior components, is its capability to look at the depth feed and extract bodies and faces from it.