Kinect Body Control

How to use the Kinect Body Control robot skill

This skill enables controlling servos of your robot by moving joints of your body, which are detected by a Microsoft XBOX 360 Kinect only. Servos can be assigned to each joint using the Settings window. Degrees to move the servos are automatically calculated for joints in relation to the connecting joint. For example, the wrist position in degrees is calculated in relation to the elbow position. And the elbow position in degrees is calculated in relation to the shoulder position. Each joint can be assigned to control servo positions between 1-180 degrees of your robot.

Required Drivers

The SDK 1.8 can be installed from here, as you will need the libraries it includes: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=40278

Main Window

1. Pause Checkbox
When this is checked no servos will move.

2. Sitting Position Checkbox
When this is checked only the Upper Body servos will be activated, and the lower body will not be detected. As a result, the lower body servos won't be active.

3. Kinect Body Joint Visualization
This section shows a visual representation of the joint values that are detected.

4. Joint Data Output
This section shows a numerical representation of the joint values that are detected.

Configuration - General Tab

1. Smoothing Value Drop-down
This drop-down adjusts the smoothing value for servo movement. As the smoothing value increases, it removes servo jitter. However, as the smoothing value increases, the more servo delay will be introduced.

Configuration - Upper Body Tab

1. Upper Body servo Configuration
This section of six servos allows you to set up the servo movement parameters for the upper body such as servo port, board index, servo configuration, max/min degree limitations, multiple servo control, and inverted direction.

Configuration - Lower Body Tab

1. Lower Body servo Configuration
This section of 6 servos allows you to set up the servo movement parameters for the Lower body such as servo port, board index, servo configuration, max/min degree limitations, multiple servo control, and inverted direction. 

*Note: When the Sitting Position checkbox is enabled (in the Main Window) the Lower Body will not be detected.

How to Use Kinect Body Control

1) Download and install the Kinect SDK (link in the "Required Drivers" section above).

2) Plug your Kinect sensor into wall power and a USB port on your PC.

3) Add the Kinect Body Control skill to your ARC project (Project -> Add Skill -> Misc -> Kinect Body Control).

4) Use the Kinect Body Control Configuration tabs to setup any servos that you would like to move.

5) Connect ARC to the servos/robot that you would like to control.

6) Ensure your body is at least 3 feet away from the Kinect sensor to be detected (ideal distance is 6 feet) and start moving around.

7) If you are experiencing servo jitter, try adjusting the Smoothing value in the Configuration General tab.

Video

Requirements

Kinect Compatibility
We're unsure of what Kinects work with the SDK in Windows, due to limited information published by Microsoft (or at least hard to find information). There are multiple Kinect versions, the one we use is the XBOX 360 Kinect. 

Work In Progress
- The servos for legs are not implemented yet
- The shoulder rotation servos are not implemented yet