Amber Hickman |
Orbbec, a 3D vision technology developer, is releasing a new range of 3D camera products that have been developed in partnership with Microsoft.
The devices are based on Microsoft’s indirect time-of-flight (iToF) depth sensing technology that was used in the HoloLens 2 and the Microsoft Azure Kinect developer kit and will provide high-performance 3D vision applications in logistics, robotics, manufacturing, retail, healthcare and fitness industries.
“Orbbec devices built with Microsoft’s iToF technology use the same depth camera module as Azure Kinect Developer Kit and offer identical operating modes and performance,” said Amit Banerjee, head of platform and partnerships at Orbbec. “Developers can effortlessly migrate their existing applications to Orbbec’s cameras by using the application programming interface bridge provided as part of their software development kit (SDK).”
There are three cameras in the range; the Femto Bolt, which has a compact RGB-D camera with HDR capabilities and will be available for volume orders from October 2023; the Femto Mega, which is currently in production and uses a built-in NVIDIA Jetson Nano to run the depth vision algorithms to convert raw data into precise depth images; and the Femto Mega I, which is currently shipping as a high-performance ruggedised intelligent camera with an IP65 rating that is suitable for warehouses, manufacturing and harsh environments.
All three devices are built with Microsoft’s iTOF technology and have identical depth camera modes and performance as the Azure Kinect Dev Kit. The Orbbec SDK also includes the Azure Kinect Sensor SDK wrapper that enables applications developed for the Azure Kinect developer kit to work with Orbbec cameras.
“Since 2021, we’ve collaborated with Orbbec to bring more camera options using Microsoft’s iToF depth technology into the market to cater to a broad range of usage scenarios,” said Swati Mehta, senior director of engineering at Microsoft. “The availability of Orbbec’s products provide customers with a broad set of choices that make 3D sensing technology accessible globally for a wider range of applications.”
The devices also have a sync control hub, which makes it easy to connect with multi-camera and multi-sensor networks.