MIT employs Kinect and lasers in real-time mapping gear for firefighters | ZDNet
Summary
With the aid of a Microsoft Kinect, a laser range finder and a laptop, MIT researchers have built a wearable piece of gear that maps a building in real time. The prototype SLAM (Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping) equipment, unveiled by MIT on Monday, is designed for use by firemen and other first responders reacting to an emergency. The sensor (pictured) works by scanning a building in a 270 degree arc with a LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) laser and combining this information with depth and visual data generated by a Kinect. It can distinguish between floors using a barometric pressure sensor, as readings from this are combined with those from the inertia kit to work out when a person is using an elevator or climbing stairs. "What they definitely tackled is the problem of height and dealing with staircases, as the human walks up and down," Wolfram Burgard, a professor of computer science at the University of Freiburg in Germany, said in an MIT press release.
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