Orbbec Presents 3D Cameras

Orbbec presents Astra Pro, a 3D camera with 720p high-definition color, and Persee, said to be the world’s first 3D camera with a fully functioning computer. The devices are first available to supporters of the Orbbec Indiegogo campaign. The Indiegogo campaign will raise funds to mass produce and ship Astra Pro by the end of the year and Persee in early 2016. The cameras have been pre-announced in May 2015.

“We believe that the future of computing is 3D and all consumer devices will include 3D cameras in the near future,” said Yuanhao (Howard) Huang, founder and CEO of Orbbec. “Achieving this vision requires superb 3D cameras that are affordably priced and universally available. It also requires a world-class hardware and development platform, which we are delivering with Orbbec Persee.”

Orbbec camera features:

• Highest Resolution – With smoother gradients, precise contours, and the ability to filter out low-quality depth pixels in a way other cameras cannot, Orbbec 3D cameras are suitable for 3D scanning and point cloud development.
• Longest Range – With a range of 0.4m - 8m, Orbbec 3D cameras are intended for a wide range of scenarios, including gesture control, robotics, 3D scanning, and many new areas.
• Exceptional Accuracy – Orbbec 3D cameras offer depth measurement accurate to within 0.5 centimeters at a distance of 2 meters.
• Lowest Latency –Astra Pro is said to be the most responsive 3D camera on the market today.

So far, Orbbec published two patent applications on its 3D camera design: WO2014135127 and WO2014135128. The English abstract of the later application "DYNAMIC PHASE ACQUIRING DEVICE" by HUANG Yuanhao says:

"Provided is a dynamic phase acquiring device, comprising: a light-acquisition port (1), a semi-reflective semi-transmitting lens (2), a phase shifter (3), a polarizer (4), a planar mirror (5), a photo-sensitive element (6), and a phase processor (7); the acquired light passes through the light-acquisition port and reaches the semi-reflective semi-transmitting lens, and then follows two paths: one path sequentially passes through the phase shifter, the polarizer, and the photo-sensitive element, forming a first image; the other path is reflected by the planar mirror and then directly passes through the polarizer and reaches the photo-sensitive element, forming a second image; the pixels of the first image are in one-to-one correspondence with the pixels of the second image; the photo-sensitive element is connected to the phase processor; the photo-sensitive element transmits the first and second images to the phase processor, and the phase processor generates phase data; the phase shifter provides phase lead or phase lag ranging from 1 degree to 20 degrees. By using the phase shifter to provide a lead or a lag by a small angle, such as from 1 to 20 degrees, or even from 5 to 10 degrees, phase data can be obtained via two-path image detection, thus eliminating the need for optical elements for at least one path detection, and thereby simplifying the structure and reducing costs."