Mobile Kinect Scanner (Summer 2024)

The goal of this project was to modify an Xbox Kinect scanner to work on a mobile platform. The Xbox Kinect is a suite of cameras and sensors which can detect the color, distance and speed of an object, as well as more sophisticated object recognition. 

The largest mechanical hurdle was that the Kinect is designed to be constantly powered over a proprietary USB connection to an Xbox 360 console. To power the camera I purchased an adaptor that split the proprietary USB into a standard USB-A connector and two leads for DC power. 

The USB-A connects to a Fusion5 tablet running the scanning software, and the leads for power connect to the battery. To save money on powering the rig, I used a Craftsman 24v battery that I already had. An added feature of using this battery type is that it can be very quickly swapped out with a new battery. To use this on the 12v camera, I attached a buck converter between the two components to step the battery power down to the proper 12v and ensure nothing explodes. To improve safety, two fuses are included in the circuit. These components were then soldered together and glued with E6000 into the 3D printed frame.