Intel has released a new stereo depth camera, the RealSense D455. The fourth camera in Intel’s RealSense D400 series, the D455 has a range up to 6 meters and costs $239. According to Intel, it’s twice as accurate as the other RealSense cameras.
The RealSense D455 could be used as a sensory apparatus for a variety of robots. For instance, it could help enable robots to detect their own surroundings, collect and interpret geographical data, and make decisions based on programming that interprets environmental data in real time to suit a physical objective.
The D455 was created for developers to get ahold of it and build applications for vision-based solutions that give products spatial awareness and the ability to affect their immediate environment.
To help developers with this task, the D455 has some time-saving features, including a self-calibration feature. The camera’s depth sensors are 95mm apart, which Intel claims cuts down depth error to less than 2 percent at 4m range. The RGB sensor on the D455 includes a global shutter that matches the 86° field of view (FOV) of the depth sensors. According to Intel, this improves overall color and depth alignment due in part to the inclusion of global shutters on both sets of sensors.
The D455 uses the same Intel RealSense SDK 2.0 as any other RealSense product.
Bottom Line
The Intel RealSense Depth Camera D455 is one key technology for developers interested in making either indoor or outdoor applications (or both). It has a longer range than other RealSense products, is easier to deploy, and can be programmed to use the familiar Intel RealSense SDK 2.0. It is currently available for preorder.