Perception Software Tools

Kinect / PrimeSense Drivers

Currently the robots use 2 different kind of sensors:

1. Crichton uses a Carmine (PrimeSense 1.09), which is just a short-range PrimeSense (0.35 - 1.4m)
2. Alita uses a regular Kinect (old one, version 1.0)

Since as far as I know, the Carmine only works with OpenNI2, we will stick to it. Our system requires the following packages to be installed:

1. OpenNI2: Base driver needed to access the Carmine
2. libfreenect: Needed to use the Kinect with OpenNI2
3. Nite2: I use it for Skeleton tracking.

Notice that we do NOT use OpenNI anymore. I had been under the wrong impression that OpenNI2 did not work with Kinect, but that was wrong. You need to install libfreenect and then Kinect is available to use.

PS.- Most of the info here comes from this tutorial

OpenNI2

I installed this some months previous to the time of this writing, so I will write what I remember. Install OpenNI2 from the occipital repository:

git clone https://github.com/occipital/OpenNI2

The website of Occipital is here, in case you are curious. Remember to check that the rules in udev/rules.d contain the specifications for the hardware you will use. For instance, for the Kinect, you should have the following lines in the file: /etc/udev/rules.d/51-kinect.rules

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="045e", ATTR{idProduct}=="02b0", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="045e", ATTR{idProduct}=="02ad", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="045e", ATTR{idProduct}=="02ae", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="045e", ATTR{idProduct}=="02c2", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="045e", ATTR{idProduct}=="02be", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="045e", ATTR{idProduct}=="02bf", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"

If I remember correctly, by default OpenNI2 only comes with rules for the PrimeSense, which are:

# Make primesense device mount with writing permissions (default is read only for unknown devices)
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idProduct}=="0200", ATTR{idVendor}=="1d27", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idProduct}=="0300", ATTR{idVendor}=="1d27", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idProduct}=="0401", ATTR{idVendor}=="1d27", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idProduct}=="0500", ATTR{idVendor}=="1d27", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idProduct}=="0600", ATTR{idVendor}=="1d27", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idProduct}=="0601", ATTR{idVendor}=="1d27", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idProduct}=="0609", ATTR{idVendor}=="1d27", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idProduct}=="1250", ATTR{idVendor}=="1d27", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idProduct}=="1260", ATTR{idVendor}=="1d27", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idProduct}=="1270", ATTR{idVendor}=="1d27", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idProduct}=="1280", ATTR{idVendor}=="1d27", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idProduct}=="1290", ATTR{idVendor}=="1d27", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idProduct}=="f9db", ATTR{idVendor}=="1d27", MODE:="0666", OWNER:="root", GROUP:="video"

libfreenect

• Download the OpenNI2-FreenectDriver
• Once compiled, copy driver to OpenNI2 directory

git clone https://github.com/OpenKinect/libfreenect.git
cd libfreenect
mkdir build; cd build
cmake .. -DBUILD_OPENNI2_DRIVER=ON
make
cp -L lib/OpenNI2-FreenectDriver/libFreenectDriver.so ${OPENNI2_DIR}/Bin/x64-Release/OpenNI2/Drivers

As the original tutorial says, if everything went all right, you can plug in your Kinect and run the example in OpenNI2

cd ${OPENNI2_DIR}/Bin/x64-Release/
./NiViewer

I verified and it works for both Carmine and regular Kinect.

NiTE2

You only need to install this if you want to use applications such as Skeleton tracking. I need that for handover activities:

1. Download NiTE2 from: http://ilab.usc.edu/packages/forall/ubuntu-13.10/NiTE-Linux-x64-2.2.tar.bz2

2. Extract NiTE-Linux-x64-2.2

3. Run install.sh (only generates a text file with location directions, from what I can see).

4. Copy the libFreenectDriver.so from libfreenect into the Drivers folder in NiTE to test the skeleton tracker:

   cp ${LIBFREENECT_DIR}/build/lib/OpenNI2-FreenectDriver/libFreenectDriver.so ${NiTE2_DIR}/Samples/Bin/OpenNI2/Drivers
   

5. Run demo skeleton tracker (UserViewer in Samples/Bin folder in NiTE2)