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I am working on a hobby project related to autonomous navigation. I want to use stereo camera for obstacle detection and then control the movement of robot vehicle to avoid obstacle.

(1) I am trying to find a readymade robot vehicle that has Parallel/Serial/Ethernet port to interface with a computer. I should be able to send commands through PC to Vehicle to turn left/right, speed up/down, start/stop.

Are there any good,accurate,reliable,cheap robot vehicle available in market?

(2) I am thinking of building a stereo camera. But if a good,accurate,reliable,cheap stereo camera is available on market. I am ready to purchase it too.

Note: It is a small size pet project and hence looking for "CHEAP yet RELIABLE" stereo camera and robot vehicle that can be interfaced with PC.

Thanks in advance.

PS: Would be good if items are available in India.

hohenhiem
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  • Do you have to use a stereo camera pair, or would you consider using a Microsoft Kinect or similar device? – Rethunk Feb 19 '13 at 01:36
  • Microsoft Kinect is one option. Can I use Kinect without purchasing xbox? Can I interface Kinect with Windows PC and capture video using Matlab or OpenCV code? I am exploring various possiblities/products out there. Thanks. – hohenhiem Feb 19 '13 at 07:12
  • You can use the Kinect with OpenNI, an open source project (http://www.openni.org/). For proper drivers for the Kinect, you may need the "avin2" SensorKinect build (https://github.com/avin2/SensorKinect). The nice thing about the Kinect is that you eliminate type spent getting a sensor to work, and instead can focus on depth data and testing your SLAM technique (or whatever you're working on). – Rethunk Feb 22 '13 at 02:58

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I have had some success with a Lego Mindstorm using the Lejos OS. This supports USB and Bluetooth control, so you can also use a cell phone. Although I have not used a camera with this, there are plenty of tutorials online which suggest it is quite simple to do so.

It comes with a selection of sensors and wheels (the kit I bought had an ultrasound rangefinder and a light sensor) so it's really easy to get something up and running if you're more interested in programming than electronics.

The stereo camera I have on my desk right now is a Novo Minoru. It is a really cheap option but seems to work okay for simple vision tasks. It is also UVC compliant so seems to be pretty easy to interface with.

Max Allan
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  • I like the Novo Minoru cam. I think I will purchase it. Lego Mindstorm looks okay, but I bit deviating. Thank you! – hohenhiem Feb 19 '13 at 07:06
  • Hi, I'm also planning to buy a cheap stereo. I just want to confirm that can you get Left and right frames separately with Minoru? I read somewhere its not possible since it has only one USB so it transmits all pics through that. – Gaurav Fotedar May 28 '15 at 05:45
  • Hi @GauravFoteda. Are you using OpenCV to get images from your camera? That's what I used with the Minoru and it allows you to access each eye as a separate device. – Max Allan May 28 '15 at 10:09
  • Yes I'll be using OpenCV. Thanks for the info. And one more confirmation, it says on amazon that it outputs a Red-Cyan 3D. Would I be able to use it as two normal cameras, without the Red-Cyan filters applied on the images? – Gaurav Fotedar May 28 '15 at 18:07
  • Yes, if you acquire the camera images from each eye using OpenCV they will be normal RGB images with no Red-Cyan filters on top. That is an effect they apply in their own software viewer. – Max Allan May 28 '15 at 20:16