Get yer Dev Kit while its hot.
What technology does leapmotion use (is it imaging? a theramin?)
I'm not sure, but they promise uber-kinect like performance ; ie minority report handwaving;
but ultimately, if it creates a depth map at that size, shape, and cost ($80), it's a SLAM-dunk!
a theramin pronounced "booyawwahhaaeeeeeee'
Comments
It doesn't work with women or anyone over 25.
it's been stated here that it's not a TOF camera.
http://www.cultofmac.com/168432/this-ipod-sized-usb-dongle-for-your...
Leap Motion’s Eliotte weighs in on the tech “the camera is not a time-of-flight camera. The device is actually using camera sensors that are basic off-the-shelf hardware found in smartphones and webcams today. The 3D magic comes in the software –the mathematical analysis of the light bouncing off images.”
@John- Good point. Though with some on chip focal plane processing, smart allocation of cpu cycles, and a few application specific assumptions I can see a stereo implementation in a package that size (thought not that price point).
Saw a posting somewhere suggesting the device is actually two cameras, an IR filter, and an IR source, probably projecting a structured random dot pattern like the Kinect. Implementable in a package that size, with the right techniques, but I think in this case the work is being done on the host computer.
@Geoffrey, stereo vision has nowhere near the accuracy they mention, and requires a lot of computational power. You need a state of the art graphics card GPU, just to get decent results in real-time from 30fps HD videos. And the solution will easily break apart if the conditions aren't ideal.
@Adam: It's amazing the difference a few dots make... :)
@Geoffrey: I should not have used an ellipsis. Those two statements were not related. I did not mean that the application proved its legitimacy.
It seemed vague to me with regards to how it worked and specifications. The site reminded me of Tacocopter.
I just thought of another possibility- that little box could be just two cameras to make a stereo vision pair. The video processing, depth perception, and gesture recognition could all be done on the host computer. Nowhere in the LeapMotion site does it say all processing occurs in the little box.
If this is the case, then we probably won't be putting this on a quad any time soon.
@Adam- actually the fact you can order a dev kit alone is not proof it is real- that could be just a way to get interest e.g. measure how many people take the time to actually fill out the dev kit application. Startups do this all the time (not that it is entirely honest...)
How does it come off fake at all?
Not fake...
I applied for my Dev kit this morning!
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next