Hardware

RGB-D Camera

An RGB-D camera is a sensor that outputs registered color and per-pixel depth images, using structured light as in the original Kinect, time-of-flight as in the Azure Kinect, or active infrared stereo as in the Intel RealSense D400 series. Depth range typically spans tens of centimeters to several meters, with characteristic failures on dark, reflective, or transparent surfaces and in direct sunlight.

Why it matters for physical AI

Cheap registered depth made 3D manipulation perception ubiquitous, and RGB-D streams remain the standard input for grasp synthesis, obstacle avoidance, and the demonstration datasets behind most manipulation policies.