Intel RealSense

Intel RealSense Technology, formerly known as Intel Perceptual Computing, is a product range of depth and tracking technologies designed to give machines and devices depth perception capabilities. The technologies, owned by Intel are used in autonomous drones, robots, AR/VR, smart home devices amongst many others broad market products.

The RealSense products are made of Vision Processors, Depth and Tracking Modules, and Depth Cameras, supported by an open source, cross-platform SDK in an attempt to simplify supporting cameras for third party software developers, system integrators, ODMs and OEMs.

History
Intel began producing hardware and software that utilized depth tracking, gestures, facial recognition, eye tracking, and other technologies under the branding Perceptual Computing in 2013. According to Intel, much of their research into the technologies is focused around "sensory inputs that make [computers] more human like". They initially hoped to begin including 3D cameras that could support their Perceptual Computing as opposed to traditional 2D cameras by late 2014.

In 2013, Intel ran a competition among seven teams to create software highlighting the capabilities of its Perceptual Computing technology entitled "Intel Ultimate Coder Challenge: Going Perceptual".

In 2014, Intel rebranded their Perceptual Computing line of technology as Intel RealSense.

Intel RealSense Group supports multiple depth and tracking technologies including Coded Light Depth, Stereo Depth and Positional Tracking.

To address the lack of applications built on the RealSense platform and to promote the platform among software developers, in 2014 Intel organized the "Intel RealSense App Challenge". The winners were awarded large sums of money.

Intel RealSense D400 Product Family
As of January 2018, new Intel RealSense D400 Product Family was launched with the Intel RealSense Vision Processor D4, Intel RealSense Depth Module D400 Series, and 2 ready to use depth cameras: Intel RealSense Depth Cameras D435 and D415.

Intel RealSense Vision Processor D4 Series
The Intel RealSense Vision Processor D4 series are vision processors based on 28 nanometer (nm) process technology to compute real-time stereo depth data. They utilise a depth algorithm that enables more accurate and longer range depth perception than previously available. There are two products in this family: RealSense Vision processor D4 and RealSense Vision Processor D4m.

Other products
The Intel RealSense Depth Module D400 Series is designed for easy integration to bring 3D into devices and machines. Intel also released the D415 and D435 in 2018. Both cameras feature the RealSense Vision processor D4 and camera sensors. They are supported by the cross-platform and open source Intel RealSense SDK 2.0. The Intel D415 is designed for more precise measurements.

Intel RealSense Depth Camera D435
The Intel RealSense Depth Camera D435 is for capturing stereo images as well as depth (by using a Structured-light 3D scanner) for a variety of applications that need perceive the world in 3D.

Previous Generations
Previous generations of Intel RealSense depth cameras (F200, R200 and SR300) were implemented in multiple laptop and tablet computers by Asus, HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Acer. Additionally, Razer and Creative offered consumer ready standalone webcams with the Intel RealSense camera built into the design.: Razer Stargazer and the Creative BlasterX Senz3D.

Intel RealSense 3D Camera (Front F200)
This is a stand-alone camera that can be attached to a desktop or laptop computer. It is intended to be used for natural gesture-based interaction, face recognition, immersive, video conferencing and collaboration, gaming and learning and 3D scanning. There was also version of this camera to be embedded into laptop computers.

Intel RealSense Snapshot
Snapshot is a camera system intended to be built into tablet computers and possibly smartphones. Its intended uses include taking photographs and performing after the fact refocusing, distance measurements, and applying depth photo filters. The refocus feature differs from a plenoptic camera in that RealSense Snapshot takes pictures with large depth of field so that initially the whole picture is in focus and then in software it selectively blurs parts of the image depending on their distance. The Dell Venue 8 and 10 7000 Series Android tablets are equipped with this camera.

Intel RealSense 3D Camera (Rear R200)
Rear-mounted camera for Microsoft Surface or a similar tablet, like the HP Spectre X2. This camera is intended for augmented reality applications, content creation, and object scanning. Its depth accuracy is on the order of millimeters and its range is up to 6.0 meters. The R200 is a stereo camera and is able to obtain accurate depth outdoors as well as indoors.

Reception
In an early preview article in 2015, PC World's Mark Hachman concluded that RealSense is an enabling technology that will be largely defined by the software that will take advantage of its features. He noted that as of the time the article was written, the technology was new and there was no such software.

Product Technical Specifications
Specifications: Intel RealSense Depth Camera D415, D435 and D455

Specifications: Intel RealSense Vision Processor D4 Series

(Not available separately as these are just the bare PCB Vision Processor boards, only used as basis for the RealSense Depth Camera series)

Specifications: Intel Stereo DepthModule SKUs

(Not available separately as these are just the bare PCB Depth Sensor Modules, only used as basis for the RealSense Depth Camera series)