Sight capable robots seem to be flooding the market ever since Microsoft's Kinect motion controller went open source. Now, Willow Garage, a team of researchers and robotics experts, has paired Xbox 360's Kinect with a robot that is capable of gesture control.
The team behind the robot is already developing their own open source Robot Operating System (ROS), which has gained popularity among robotics experts and its line of PR2 robots, have also been used for robotics research.
In this new venture, the team has successfully embedded Kinect with their PR2 robotics system and ROS for a gesture controlled robot interface. The video released by Willow Garage looks impressive, and holds tremendous potential in engineering, defence and other civilian applications. With improvisation, such a system may provide the precision to perform remote medical procedures, explosive detonation and mine sweeping, and other implementations where robotic interfaces could be successfully paired with precise human control.
In less than a couple of weeks, the Willow Garage team has managed to make their PR2 robot mimic the movements of an operator moving in front of the Kinect sensors. In an attempt to allow their robot to mimic motions in a full 360 degree radius, the team is using two Kinects - one behind the operator and one in front.