R200: is this the expected quality or mine is defective?

[Antonio_J_1]

Hi all,

last friday I got my R200 and I have been playing around with it the whole weekend, but the results are not what I expected. We want to integrate it in an autonomous robot because of its scene perception capabilities mostly, but so far it has been impossible for me to get good results.

I have been using the examples provided in the SDK, both the C++ version and the Unity version (in fact we work with Unity), and its terribly complicated to find a point where the software wants to record, and sometimes moving just a tiny bit makes you lose the point the software likes. Once the software starts creating the mesh it loses the reference and asks you to go back again to a know position, constantly and even when moving just a little bit. See VIDEO 1 and VIDEO 2

I have tried with three different computers and two environments, the lab (shown in the videos) and at home. At home it was in a room with less natural light, a sofa with cushions, books, hanging clothes, etc... and the results were also terrible.

I also tried modifying the gain of the camera in the SDK (1-4) and i get the same results.

VIDEO 1 (scene): https://vardemis.tinytake.com/sf/ODc2MTc0XzM3NjY4ODA

VIDEO 2 (scene): https://vardemis.tinytake.com/sf/ODc2MjAzXzM3NjY5NDE

I also recorded some videos of the depth images the camera perceives:

VIDEO 3 (depth): https://vardemis.tinytake.com/sf/ODc2MzE5XzM3NjcxNjg Noisy even when everything is static.

VIDEO 4 (several): https://vardemis.tinytake.com/sf/ODc2MTk5XzM3NjY5Mzc

VIDEO 5 (color and depth): https://vardemis.tinytake.com/sf/ODc2MTg5XzM3NjY5MTY

All the videos can be downloaded from here:https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3Xq7tSjz-NcXzhOaEJhU2JaOVU/view?usp=sharing

When results should look like these ones:

https://software.intel.com/sites/landingpage/realsense/camera-sdk/v1.1/documentation/html/doc_sp_scene_perception.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BN_-2gCrqU (min 1:30)

I also found out that some people were also having problems with noisy depth images:

https://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/realsense/topic/603666

https://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/realsense/topic/611064

Trying to scan heads with the app provided with the SDK is also unreliable, its constantly saying that the head is either too close or too far, being right just at a really especific distance.

Bascially, is there anything I can do to solve these problems? Is this R200 defective? Was I wrong thinking that the Scene Perception capabilities of the R200 were similar to the ones of the Tango? (although I doubt so, in videos and images seems to be as good as Tango).

Best regards,

 Antonio.

[steven_d_]

From the samples you shared I'd say that the out of the box functionality looks about like what you should expect. Or at least, its similar to what I've seen with the two r200 cameras and the sr300 camera I've worked with. The demo you shared about the robot walking around in augmented reality likely requires extra processing developed by the company demonstrating that tool.

one thing I would recommend is researching the enhanced photography and enhanced videography tools. They should be enabled for the r200 and if you can learn how to use them it will greatly improve the quality of your depth images.

Here are some links into the SDK documentation that should help you get started

Working with r200 Enhanced Mode

Enhanced Photography Features

Another thing to be aware of, Unity support for the SDK seems to be targeted at the f200 and sr300 models of camera. Many of the features like gesture, face, and hand recognition are not supported by the r200 model. r200 will still work inside Unity, but these modules will not. 

I'm sorry I can't give you more. I'm still working to solve this kind of issue myself, but I saw no one had commented on your post so I thought i'd share what I could.

Hope it helps.

[Antonio_J_1]

Hi Steven,

thanks a lot for your answer, I'm sorry I couldn't answer before, I was on a work trip and then vacations.

I was surprised I was getting no answer not even from Intel. I tried the Enhaced apps for the r200, the Streaming Depth Quality changes constantly and, besides the measure distance tool, nothing else works (I just get errors when using them).

I kept checking other peoples results and they are all better than mines, the depth images are at least stable and don't flicker that much and with that much noise.

I contacted Intel for a replacement, but I just got an email telling me to call a phone number where they will help me with my issue. I will call and try to get a replacement. Right now with this R200 I can't do anything besides using it as a common webcam.

Thanks again for answering.

Best regards,

 Antonio.

[DKryd]

hello, 

my results with the R200 & SR300 were similar right out of the box. one thing that took me awhile to get my head wrapped around is that these devices from intel are "developer" units which places them in an entirely different area than "consumer" units. these comments are not aimed at anyone who bought a consumer product with an integrated R200. i think it is important to realize that it's very new technology and the best results from the camera will be gotten from someone who is familiar with similar hardware on the technical level. you should expect that any images of any type from intel are going to be from optimum hardware and software settings unless stated out of box untouched. the demo software from intel is varied in nature with some of it from 3rd parties. i had my fingers crossed that the realsense tango device talked about in jan 2016 would actually materialize because that would pair intel camera hardware with the imo better tango software. that device has not been talked about in a long time and was removed from the intel store. anyway, i think to really succeed in this area you have to be able to look at any supplied software as simply a rough start which illustrates concepts not as anything which is going to get you a desired result immediately.good luck.

[CAike]

Antonio,

We have not worked much with the R200, but with the F200 and SR300, we had some similar troubles at the beginning. The main issue for us was that we did not have the settings correct, especially in regards to the MotionTradeoff value. 

How we discovered this was from the great utility from SamonTab.. It is a sticky on the main forum page. This utility let us play with all the sensor parameters to find something that worked correctly for our application. 

BUT, our application is for static measurement using the depth/color, so it might be more difficult since your environments are very dynamic.. I don't think the robot will be happy to be stationary!

If you haven't already, check out the IVCAM utility. I think it supports the R200.. but I am not 100% sure. If so, I hope it can help you!

Best Regards,

Chris