Kinect hacks, research, and alternative uses
We all know Microsoft's motion- and voice-controlled Xbox accessory can enhance your games, but its greatest achievement so far has perhaps been in the way it's breathed fresh life into the DIY hacking community. Kinect's array of sensors have been put to all sorts of weird and wonderful non-gaming uses, and you can follow all the past, current, and future developments in that field right here.
Microsoft working with US military to create Kinect-powered physical therapy system
If all goes as planned, Microsoft's Kinect motion sensor camera will be used to help provide physical therapy for injured soldiers and veterans. According to Defense News, the company is working with the Air Force and the Army’s Communications-Electronics Research, Development, and Engineering Center to create a therapy system that utilizes the camera, a standard PC, and off-the-shelf software. Kinect offers an extremely affordable and effective tool for tracking body movements, and therapy...
Watch this: Kinect-powered motion capture mimics your facial movements in real time
Faceshift is a new motion capture utility that does an impressive job of replicating facial movements with barely any noticeable delay. The technology relies on Microsoft's ever-capable Kinect camera to pull in the 3D data it needs to mirror your expressions, though Faceshift's creators have done an admirable job refining the device's face recognition capabilities. Seeing even the most slight movements replicated by an on-screen avatar brings to mind the top-notch motion capture we've seen in...
Watch this: mechanical ceiling mimics the feeling of being underwater
The surface of a lake or river is an iconic part of the natural world, but a mechanical version has its own kind of beauty. For his installation Underwater, artist David Bowen mapped real-time wave patterns by putting a Kinect above the water and setting it to capture the water's surface as a plane. That information was then sent to hundreds of motors, which controlled the web above. The result, shown last month at Interieur 2012 in Belgium, is a rippling ceiling that captures the feeling of...
MIT researchers equip real-time mapping system with Kinect sensor
Navigating through unknown territory is a challenge in and of itself, especially in the case of search and rescue missions — and guiding others while doing so increases the difficulty even further. To assist in these situations, researchers at MIT have built a prototype wearable mapping system that can wirelessly transfer data in real-time, as reported by MIT News. Using a "stripped-down" Kinect sensor and a laser rangefinder, the unit scans the area around the wearer in a 270-degree arc to...
British researchers build battery-powered, Wi-Fi-enabled Kinect sensor
Researchers at the University of Bristol in the UK have managed to free Microsoft's popular Kinect depth sensor from the constraints of wired use, building a self-contained unit which runs on battery power and uses Wi-Fi for communication. Created as part of the Patina project, the device contains a Gumstix single-board Linux computer for interfacing with the sensor, and produces results which can be outputted to mobile devices — the demonstration video below shows information being...
Stroke victim sends email through homemade Kinect interface
Blogger Chad Ruble has created an innovative, gesture-powered interface for his aphasia-suffering mother, using Microsoft's Kinect accessory to help her send simple emails. Writing in a blog post, Ruble explains how his mother, Lindy, has experienced difficulties reading and writing since suffering a stroke twelve years ago — wanting to help her bridge the "keyboard gap" which prevents many disabled people from interacting with computers, he created a system based on emoticons, allowing her...
Watch this: Kinect-powered robot follows visitors at London gallery
The BBC has published a short video report on Fearful Symmetry, an art installation which ran at London's Tate Modern gallery earlier this month. Conceived by British artist Ruairi Glynn, the installation involved the use of a large robot which traversed a darkened room using a ceiling-mounted rail — with the aid of three of Microsoft's Kinect sensors, it interacted with visitors, responding to their movements with a number of pre-programmed actions. As the visitors interviewed in the video...
Kinect-controlled trashcan tracks and catches airborne waste
There's no shortage of automated trash collectors on the market today, but Japanese modder FRP has taken a slightly different approach with the Smart Trashbox — a Kinect-controlled waste basket that autonomously tracks and catches airborne pieces of trash. As FRP details in the video below, the system operates on a wheeled base that's hooked up to an integrated circuit board. To control it, the modder installed a Microsoft Kinect sensor above his room, and wrote a code that enables it to...
Nanosatellites equipped with Kinect could join together like space LEGO
Researchers at the University of Surrey are preparing for a new mission that could see tiny satellites dock together in space with the help of Microsoft Kinect sensors. Called STRaND-2 (Surrey Training, Research, and Nanosatellite Demonstrator), the mission consists of two nanosatellites that measure just 30 centimeters across and are equipped with Kinect technology, which makes them aware of their surroundings. The plan is to use this ability to join the satellites together once in orbit —...
Apps & Software
Kinect-enabled Kreek interface uses a flexible surface for added depth
We've seen Kinect used to turn surfaces into touch screen-like interfaces before, but we haven't come across anything quite like Kreek — a prototype that eschews a solid surface like a coffee table for something a little more flexible. Created by a group of students from the Köln International School of Design in Germany, Kreek features a stretchy piece of fabric with images projected on to it, while Kinect cameras are used to determine exactly where you're touching. Because the surface is...
Microsoft
Ubi Interactive working on Kinect-powered projectable touchscreens
Ubi Interactive (no relation to Ubisoft) is a startup from Munich currently working with Microsoft in Seattle as part of the Kinect Accelerator program. Their idea is a simple one that looks to be pretty effective — a system that uses a projector in combination with a Kinect sensor to create a virtual touchscreen that can be cast onto just about any surface. Ars Technica visited the team to test it all out and came away fairly glowing with praise, noting the system's responsiveness as well...
Kinect LiveAR concept lets iPad users get in on the action (video)
It can be hard enough finding the space for two people to play Kinect games together, let alone more than that, but a solution of sorts could be on the way from Premium Agency. The Japanese company develops CGI software and the occasional game such as Death By Cube for Xbox Live Arcade, and took to the Smartphone and Mobile Expo in Tokyo, Japan this week to show off its LiveAR software.
The program matches an iPad app to the Kinect so that people in the background can affect the on-screen...
Kinect-powered LightGuide prototype trains your muscle movements with projected light
If you've ever played a Kinect game, you'll know that sometimes it can be difficult to work out exactly where to move your body. Researchers from Microsoft and the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois have created a prototype system called LightGuide that could help with that and more besides — it projects visual feedback onto users' arms to help teach them correct movements for a variety of tasks. For example, an amateur martial arts trainee could be instructed by...
Augmented Reality Sandbox uses Kinect for real-time topography and simulated water
If you long for a high tech twist to your sandcastle making, the Augmented Reality Sandbox might be of interest to you. It's not the first AR table we've seen, but this special sandbox uses a Kinect sensor and a projector to create an interactive topographical map with real-time water simulations. As you can see in the videos below, you can use your hands or a shovel to push around the sand to form mounds and valleys, and the software uses the Kinect's distance readings to overlay a...
Kinect and PlayStation Eye combined in 3D augmented reality coffee table
Microsoft Surface is cool, sure, but it could be even cooler if it took inspiration from another division of the company. That's what we thought after seeing Bastian Broecker's amazing coffee table that uses Microsoft's Kinect sensor, infrared lasers, a PlayStation Eye, and head tracking software to create a 3D augmented reality experience. The effect is best understood by watching the video below, but basically the Kinect is being used to track the user's head and move the 3D environment in...
Microsoft
Rethink Music 'hackathon' developers build creative music apps with the help of Kinect and Spotify
Berklee College's Rethink Music conference isn't just for those in the music business — over the weekend, Boston-based music intelligence company the Echo Nest sponsored a "hackathon" at Microsoft's New England Research and Development Center. This gathering provided an opportunity for music developers to get together and spend a day and a half creating applications from scratch that were shown off and judged Sunday afternoon. The top three apps were demoed to Rethink Music attendees today,...
New iPad, Kinect sensor, and 24-foot screen combined to make massive interactive tablet
Crunchy Logistics has just unveiled its Padzilla Too video display, which blows up a new iPad onto 24 x 12 foot LED matrix display and uses a Microsoft Kinect sensor to pick up gestures. The product isn't priced yet, but we suspect it won't come cheap considering a similar, 6.8-foot wide touchscreen model costs $41,000. Crunchy says the product is the largest of its kind and is designed for business presentations, but we can imagine it being used for interactive billboards as well. Tracking...
Kinect used to control 83-year-old, four-story high organ in Australia
Australian composer Chris Vik wanted to play the historic four-story tall Town Hall organ in Melbourne, and he decided that Microsoft's Kinect would be the best way to go about it. While the organ was built back in 1929, it was upgraded to support MIDI in the 90s. Meanwhile, Vik had already created his own software called Kinectar, which turns Microsoft's motion sensing device into a MIDI controller and was previously used to create dance-controlled electronic music. When it came to playing...
Microsoft selects 11 Kinect Accelerator startups for future app development
Last year Microsoft announced its Kinect Accelerator program, pledging to help ten startups bring their ideas for the motion-sensing video game controller to fruition. Well, after receiving more than 500 applications the company has made its decision, and ended up choosing 11 projects in all. Each startup will spend April to June in Seattle with office space and $20,000 in investment from Microsoft. While some of the projects are still under wraps, most are linked to on Microsoft's Kinect...
Tongue-controlled Kinect interface under development in Japan
Yesterday we brought you news of a Japanese research effort to produce interactive kissable posters, but some of you expressed concerns over its hygiene in the comments. Well, a separate team in Japan may have inadvertently hit on a solution by devising a tongue-control interface for Kinect. Adding to the long list of innovative uses people have found for Microsoft's motion-sensing device, the research group at Tokyo's University of Electro-Communications is actually working towards a much...
Microsoft
'Making Things See' can teach you how to hack the Kinect
With the Kinect, Microsoft is providing today's hackers with a powerful off-the-shelf system for accessing motion controls and 3D imaging; letting people build things that would have been out of reach for anyone but experts and researchers just a few years ago. Unfortunately, as is often the case in the hobbyist world, the quantity and decentralized nature of online documentation can be daunting for first-timers, discouraging people that might otherwise be interested in joining the scene....
Microsoft
Microsoft releases Robotics Developer Studio 4 with Kinect support
Microsoft's Robotics Developer Studio 4, a freely downloadable framework for robot programming and management, has been released today. The new software will add support for Microsoft's .NET Framework 4.0, XNA 4.0, and Silverlight 4.0. Most excitingly, will also include support for up to four Kinect sensors using the Kinect for Windows SDK. To help users integrate the new features, there's a new reference hardware design that includes Kinect-based navigation like that in the video seen...
Microsoft
Kinect and Canon 5D combine for candid 3D imagery
In our Lytro review, we mentioned seeing a preview of an upcoming mode that allows you to manipulate the perspective of a photo after the fact, using 3D data captured by the camera's unique sensor. While the Lytro won't be widely available for a while, you may already have technology with the potential for similar functionality under your TV stand in the shape of Microsoft's Kinect. James George and Alexander Porter have exploited this in a series of CCTV-inspired images, using custom...
Apps & Software
Microsoft's transparent 3D desktop puts a virtual computing environment at your fingertips
In yet another TechForum reveal, Microsoft's Applied Sciences Group has demonstrated a new interactive 3D desktop prototype. The system uses a transparent OLED screen made by Samsung along with Microsoft Kinect sensors to create a virtual desktop environment that users can manipulate with their hands in real-time. A keyboard beneath the transparent screen allows a user to type as they would with a normal computer, and then when they need to interact with the desktop — to say, flip through a...
Microsoft
Kinect-based DarwinBot lets you remotely play with and talk to your pet
Unwilling to leave his dog Darwin home alone while he was at work, Microsoft Robotics Team developer Jordan Correa came up with an unusual solution: building a remote-controlled robot doppelganger that could dispense treats, throw and retrieve a ball, and video "chat" with the dog on Skype. DarwinBot was created using the Parallax EDDIE hardware platform, its features implemented with Microsoft's Robotics Developer Studio 4. As you can see in the video below, it's essentially a mobile table...
Web & Social
Depthcam uses Kinect and HTML5 to let you pan and zoom live 3D video
Developer George MacKerron has what that he thinks could be the future of webcams, or, well, something. He took a Kinect and gave birth to the depthcam, which produces a live video stream with 3D space that you can move through. Like Lytro's adjustable focus images, the video that the depthcam produces is interactive — click and drag to virtually pan the camera, and use the scroll wheel to zoom. While it's not the first Kinect-powered interactive experience we've seen, it is all presented...
South Korea's Live Park uses Kinect sensors and RFID to create an interactive 3D fantasy world
We've seen Microsoft's Kinect show up in a number of unexpected places, and now it's being used to power a 3D theme park in South Korea. Created by interactive company D'strict, Live Park consists of 65 attractions spread out over 7 stages; RFID-enabled bracelets track users as they move from exhibit to exhibit, while Kinect sensors allow their motion and expressions to control virtual avatars within the park's wall installations, holograms and panoramic 3D projection screens. Even better, at...
Chaotic Moon Labs Board of Awesomeness: your hand is the throttle on this Kinect-controlled skateboard
Chaotic Moon's Board of Awesomeness is one of the craziest things we've seen here at CES 2012. And by crazy, we mean awesome. The frankenstein creation was built in just two weeks and is composed of a longboard with a set of gigantic rugged wheels, electric motor, batteries, Kinect, and Windows 8 tablet.
The Board of Awesomeness is single-wheel drive and powered by an 800 watt motor and 36 volt battery, which give the board a top speed of 32 MPH. Although these specs might be interesting to...
CES 2012
Geomagic demonstrates Kinect-To-Print for 3D printers (video)
We're still waiting to check out 3D Systems Corporation's 3D printing service at CES. In the meantime, Geomagic, which powers the Kinect-To-Print app for the company, has released a video demonstrating the process by which a Kinect image gets turned into a printable template. Essentially, Geomagic uses the Kinect to capture a series of points, then turns them into a 3D model which can be sent to the printer or, presumably, uploaded to "create-and-make" environment Cubify.
The process is...
Microsoft
FIRST robotics competition to feature Kinect-powered robots
2,500 teams of students will have the opportunity to build a remote-controlled Kinect-powered robot over the next six weeks. The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics competition kicked off on Saturday, and sees students worldwide working towards a fully built robot. During the autonomous period of the competition, students will control their robots using sensor input and commands — utilizing Microsoft's Kinect depth and speech features.
We've seen...
Reseachers create Kinect-powered system to weigh astronauts on sight
Researchers are using the Microsoft Kinect to calculate a person's weight just by looking at them — perhaps even in outer space. Computer scientist Carmelo Velardo and a team at the Italian Institute of Technology's Center for Human Space Robotics created the system, which uses the Kinect's body-tracking camera to generate a 3D model of a given individual. A database of 28,000 people is then utilized to calculate weight based on the physical measurements of the subject, generating results...
Kinect aids in improving mobility and rehabilitating stroke patients
Kinect's finding its way into more and more areas of research as a comparatively cheap way to create 3D images. The camera's particularly gaining ground amongst health practitioners, and now we've heard of Kinect being used for gait analysis and rehab.
The uses in gait analysis — the study of how people walk — are being developed separately by both Missouri University and by students from Oak Ridge High School, Tennessee. Equipment to monitor people's walking exists already, but is...
Gaming
Kinect mod for Skyrim adds voice and motion control to unleash your inner Dovahkiin
Microsoft's Kinect still isn't the reliably robust motion-sensing device we wish it was, but every time we see a breathtaking mod come out we can't help but fall in love with its promise. This time, YouTube user KinectFAAST (who doesn't seem to be explicitly affiliated with the Kinect FAAST USC group) has integrated the sensor with Skyrim on PC to glorious effect in a video you can see below. The mod lets players speak in order to switch weapons, access their favorites, open their quest...
Kinect Beatwheel remixes music samples on the fly
Microsoft's Kinect has inspired plenty of useful hacks, but the Beatwheel seems designed to party — it lets you remix audio loops in real time with a simple wave of the hand. The UI splits a sound sample into segments wrapped around you like a clock, and plays whichever one you point to. A green bar shows what's currently playing, a red dot follows your hand around to select the next segment, and a blue tempo indicator shows you how fast the music is playing. You can also adjust the...
Microsoft's Kinect-infused Augmented Projectors make your entire room a touchscreen
Microsoft's research division has created augmented projectors, a new technology which use data from up to four Kinects to let you interact with a 3D model of any room you're in. At its simplest, the projector shines an image which you can interact with by casting shadows, but the other applications are both more complex and more interesting. The Kinect sensors within the room can define the space digitally, and then use the projector like a magic flashlight to expose and interact with the...
Apps & Software
Kinect Effect ad inspires, recognizes hacking community
Microsoft may not be known for emotionally compelling advertisements, but its new Kinect Effect ad inspires with aplomb — the ad recognizes the "unexpected things" (read: hacks) which have snowballed since the device's release, and offers a little insight into Microsoft's evolved thinking about Kinect's potential. The video, which you can watch below, shows applications for Kinect being used in the arts, education, science, and medicine. While the demonstrations may be fictional, the...
Gaming
GLaDOS for Kinect is your contemptuous personal assistant
Siri may have a lot of brains behind its technology, but it lacks the hopelessly sardonic demeanor that people like Corey Thomas enjoy — he's created GLaDOS, a personal assistant inspired by the menacing AI from Portal, which responds to voice recognition using the Kinect. GLaDOS can recognize its own name, open and close programs, and offer plenty of biting insults. The program responds pretty quickly to commands, which you can see for yourself in the video below.
Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon researchers put a touchscreen on the palm of your hand
Touchscreens have revolutionized the way we use computers, and now researchers are bringing the same kind of interaction to everyday objects with a system called OmniTouch. Developed by Carnegie Mellon Ph.D. student Chris Harrison, with Andy Wilson and Hrvoje Benko of Microsoft Research Redmond, the system consists of a shoulder-mounted pico projector that displays interface elements on any object in a user's immediate personal vicinity: a nearby wall, a notebook, or even their hand. A...
Gaming
Self-Defense Training Camp for Kinect tries to turn you into a lethal weapon
Ever thought the best way to learn self-defense was to shadow-choke invisible assailants in the safety of your own living room? Neither have we, but Ubisoft thinks otherwise with Self-Defense Training Camp for Kinect on the Xbox 360 — though it may be setting some troubling expectations. Fitness and workout games have been common since the Nintendo Wii debuted, and while Ubisoft claims it's breaking new ground here, the mix of cardio fitness workouts, reflex games, and self-defense...
Microsoft
Kinect Fun Labs offers you some tech demos while you wait
We still haven't seen Kinect's "killer app," and Microsoft can't seem to get gameplay out of on-rails hell, but while we twiddle our motion captured thumbs waiting for a compelling gaming experience, we can finally start playing around with all that Kinect power from the 360 itself. Microsoft is launching Kinect Fun Labs, which is an app store of sorts for tech demos -- a purtified version of the wild west of PC hacks currently available for the hardware. Each downloadable "gadget" is meant...
