Kinect joint detection from top

Question

I'm wondering, does the Kinect detects joints correctly when it's put on the top (on the ceiling). I don't have necessary equipment to attach it to ceiling and test, but was wondering whether it reliably detects human. I'm ok even if it confuses the joints, actually. Has anybody tested this?

Answer 1

I did a little bit of testing with the Kinect mounted in a very high position (2.5 m, 70° to the ground). As answered by Coeffect it just doesn't work. It doesn't work with Microsoft SDK nor with OpenNI. What I can add is that the skeleton recognition only works if the user is facing the camera with her/his whole body-front. Even worse, both frameworks seem to expect the head at the top of the depth-frame.

Answer 2

From what I've seen while using it, the skeleton detection is iffy from any angle other than directly pointing at a person's front or back. A Kinect pointed straight down with people walking under it would almost certainly not detect anyone, because the human form from above does not look anything like it does from the front. I have had the Kinect pick up random people around me in odd positions (sitting, viewed from the side, etc), but the joints were largely spastic. If you have it mounted on the ceiling and pointed downwards at a sufficient angle to still see people from the front instead of from above.. it could do a fairly good job of picking them up.

So when you say on the ceiling do you mean pointing straight down or still looking at a fairly horizontal angle?