Nodebots: Detecting Gestures with Node.js & Kinect
Why?
- Worked with NodeBots for 1+ year
- Wanted to explore the possibilities of Node.js
- Because controlling a robot with a Kinect is pretty cool
The goals
- Needed a way to use events to tell the robot to perform an action
- Gestures seemed the best way to achieve that
What currently exists
Text
Basic Nodebot stack
- node.js
- socket.io
- johnny-five
node-openni
- A way to connect the Kinect to node.js
- Very basic event for almost everything
What I needed
- Support for a "skeleton"
- Support for gestures
Gestures 101
- Is the initial condition met ?
- Is the condition still met ?
- Is the final condition met ?
What do I need for gestures?
- A Skeleton with an event when it changes
- Know the position of the COM
- Have a base unit
Introducing node-kinect
- Gesture detection using a base class
- Tracks the skeleton for an initial condition
- Checks every 100 ms to see if the condition is still met
- If the final condition is met trigger an event
- Other classes are used to define the actual gestures
Code time !
Next few steps
- Return a skeleton with easier coordinates
- Create a npm package
- Add more gestures
About me
@joel__lord
http://github.com/joellord
jlord@macadamian.com
Nodebots: Detecting Gestures with Node.js & Kinect