We’ve seen hacks for the Kinect from the very start, and even
some that suggested one like this might be possible: a Kinect
being moved around like a camera, recording the depth of
everything it sees and building up a full-3D map of the room and
every object in it. They call it KinectFusion, and it’s really
quite fascinating to watch. I’ve re-hosted the video here, since
the original is a bit cramped and not everyone wants to download
the whole thing. The position of the camera is constantly
tracked by monitoring the depth of known objects in its view,
and with that information known, the 3D data recorded can be
given absolute measurements, producing a static map of the room.
And it all happens in real time. Watch just the first
demonstration and you can see the system “painting” a 3D model
of the room as quickly as the researcher can move the Kinect
around. It tolerates change, as well: move objects in the scene
and it’ll update the model. It “knows” whether an object is
moving or the camera itself is. And b