Stereo vision is how humans perceive depth. The word "stereo" means “two.” Humans look at the same scene from two different viewpoints to get a sense of depth. So, in order to simulate it, two identical cameras are required: a gaming console stereo camera was bought for this purpose. However, the company that produced the camera made a custom USB 3 cable connector, to let it be usable only on their consoles. To overcome this problem, a common USB 3 cable was cut and tin-soldered to the camera cable, essentially stitching them together. This operation required a series of delicate steps and, in the end, all cables were shielded to avoid electromagnetic interferences while operating. Another challenge was to implement custom open-source firmware to communicate directly with the camera hardware. The final result works quite well and a few depth perception tests were carried out.
- [Hours of work: 4h]
- [People involved: Giorgio, Akshit]
