Intel RealSense Depth Module D421 offers a low-cost depth-sensing solution at just $80
Intel RealSense Depth Module D421 is an entry-level stereo depth module with a 0.2 to 3-meter recommended range, a global shutter to capture motion without artifacts, and a 75° × 50° field of view (FoV).
Intel has made RealSense Depth cameras for years, including the popular RealSense D435i with 6 DoF tracking introduced in 2018 that currently sells for about $320. But not all projects need the most advanced features and/or are viable when needing to spend several hundred dollars on the camera itself. The RealSense Depth Module D421 is a much cheaper way to integrate depth-sensing into projects at a much lower price point. It’s fairly similar to the earlier D435 but lacks an RGB camera.
All you need is a host with a USB port that can work with the open-source Intel RealSense SDK 2.0 and related depth tools. It works with the following operating systems:
Some features of the SDK include support for Open3D open-source library designed for processing 3D data, ROS and ROS2 frameworks for robotics, and TensorFlow and OpenVino for AI and machine learning workloads. Intel provides some C/C++ code samples for their RealSense camera and modules, but the SDK also includes wrappers for many common platforms and languages such as Python, C#/.NET, and Matlab.
