What's the best way of dealing with the Kinects "blind spot"?
I'm wondering what the best way of dealing with the minimum scan distance limitations of the Kinect (i.e within ~0.6m it can't detect objects). Specifically I'm attempting to use explore and slam_gmapping packages to search a room. This works when the robot starts in the center of the room (or at least more than 0.6m from a wall), however if the robot starts in a hallway where the walls are closer, the map and by extension exploration goals get completely messed up.
I realise this can't be fixed as it's a hardware limitation, but what are good parameter values to minimise the effect on the map/navigation? I've found setting the slam_gmapping param "maxUrange" to 6.0 helps, are there any others I should look at?
As a follow up question, I'm using a LEGO Mindstorms NXT kit for the robot. At the moment I'm just using the two motors that come with the kit as a base, would it be possible to add the sonar sensor to compensate for the Kinects blind spot in some way?
