For $250, you can start building robots and drones using Intel's RealSense Robotic dev kit

By Gabe Carey Updated April 13, 2016

build a low budget bot with intels 250 development kit segway butler 1 — Brandon Widder/Digital Trends

Since 2013, Intel has developed its RealSense technology in order to pursue the promise of “perceptual computing,” a term that basically equates to a motion and voice control platform that makes use of the chip company’s 3D cameras.

But because of the burn people experienced years ago as a result of similar products like Microsoft’s Kinect and Nintendo’s Wii, RealSense has opted for a different path. If you’ve ever wanted to make your own robots and drones, for instance, Intel’s Aero and Robotic development kits announced at IDF this week would make that less of a chore.

While the Aero Kit is intended for those interested in making drones, the Robotic Development Kit is, obviously, designed to help you craft your own Droids.

The Robotic dev kit in particular consists of an R200 RealSense camera capable of detecting motion up to four meters away, with VGA resolution infrared/depth imagery of up to 60 frames per second and 1080p RGB imagery of up to 30 frames per second.

What’s more, the kit packs in a credit-card sized computer akin to the Raspberry Pi system-on-a-module, albeit with an Intel Atom Cherry Trail processor in place of an ARM one.

Here’s the full-spec list for Intel’s Robotic Development Kit:

Atom x5-Z8350 processor
Intel HD graphics
4GB od DDR3L-1600 RAM
32GB eMMC storage
1 USB 3.0 port
4 USB 2.0 ports
Gigabit Ethernet
HDMI 1.4b
40-pin connector
real-time-clock
CSI interface for 4MP camera
Ubuntu Linux (although Windows 10 is also supported)

While less specifics were given on the Aero kit, you can expect an Atom x7-Z8700 processor and embedded Linux software on that one when it arrives in the second half of 2016.

The Robotic kit, on the other hand, will make its way to eager developers in June for $250. You can reserve one for yourself on Intel’s website.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

A freelancer for Digital Trends, Gabe Carey has been covering the intersection of video games and technology since he was 16…

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