KinectHacks
Latest
Akimbo Kinect hack offers precise control with minimal effort (video)
We've seen Microsoft's Kinect used in countless ways, but 3Gear Systems means to better these predecessors with the beta release of its SDK, which turns all the subtleties of hand movement into actions. In addition to using two Kinect cameras for accuracy, the software compares hand poses against a pre-rendered database so gesture commands are executed with little lag. It offers complete control of a virtual 3D environment from the comfort of your natural desk position, so you won't have to worry about flail fatigue after long stints. A free public beta is available now until November 30th, at which point bigger companies will require a license, while individuals and small enterprises will continue to get complimentary access. We know what you're thinking -- it's just another Kinect hack -- but we suggest you reserve judgment til you've seen the demo below, showing examples of how the API could be used for CAD, medical, and of course, gaming applications.
MIT's real-time indoor mapping system uses Kinect, lasers to aid rescue workers
We've seen the Kinect put to use to help you find your groceries, but the sensor's image processing capabilities have some more safety-minded applications as well. The fine minds at MIT combined the Kinect with a laser range finder and a laptop to create a real-time mapping rig for firefighters and other rescue workers. The prototype, called SLAM (for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) received funding from the US Air Force and the Office of Naval Research, and it stands out among other indoor mapping systems for its focus on human (rather than robot) use and its ability to produce maps without the aid of any outside information, thanks to an on-board processor.
Microsoft sets up new subsidiary, would like to meet open source types
It's been a mixed bag when it comes to Microsoft and open source involvement, but Redmond's now getting all enthused, setting up an Open Technologies subsidiary dedicated to making friends in open source circles. While of other parts of the Redmond behemoth will also continue to work on open source projects, this new team of up to 70 internally-recruited staff members will attempt to engage with open source communities "in a more clearly defined manner" across Microsoft's legion of departments. If this possibly means more off-the-rails Kinect hacks in the future, bring it on.
Kinect / Arduino hack makes stuffed monkey dance for your amusement
Just when you thought that people had squeezed the last drop of creativity out of Microsoft's Kinect, something like this comes along. It's a stuffed monkey with a robotic skeleton that can mimic the movements of the person standing in front of it. "Monkey Business" is an art installation of sorts created by Jan M. Sieber and Ralph Kistler. It uses a camera sensor from a Kinect, an Arduino mircocontroller, and 10 servomotors. The smirking robo-monkey, meanwhile, is suspended from the wall, giving it a full range of movement. The resulting video is pretty darn delightful.
Quadrocopters reined in by Kinect leash, we feel safer already
It seems like the folks over at the Flying Machine Arena are finally starting to catch on -- those quadrocopters are going to kill us all. Thankfully, after teaching them to juggle and tap out some tunes, the researchers came to their senses and put the flying machines on a Kinect-controlled leash. Instead of flitting about autonomously, the four-rotored nightmares are directed by a puppeteer waving his hands. Movement is controlled by the right hand, while raising the left one tells the copter to do a little flip for its master's amusement, and a commanding clap makes it sit down like a good little pup. Best of all, if you don't give it any arm-waving instruction it just hovers and waits until you tell it otherwise. On further consideration, maybe we haven't been creating our own murderers, but a new man's best friend -- after all, they don't eat much and can't chew up your remotes. Check out the video after the break.
Kinect Graffiti creates neon tags with the wave of a hand (video)
Are you tired of Kinect hacks yet? We didn't think so -- good thing too 'cause we're not done bringing 'em to you. The latest one to hit our tips box comes from designer Jean-Christophe Naour (Innoiz Interactive), a 3D light-painting program he calls Kinect Graffiti. While calling the results "graffiti" might be a little misleading (Naour isn't exactly bombing virtual walls) it does whip up some nice streaky neon images that can capture the act of tagging, if not the final product. We won't waste any more of your time with our rambling -- a picture is worth a thousand words, and the video after the break is composed of over 4,000 of those. Don't miss the flood of photos at the more coverage link either.
Newest Kinect hack: a grocery cart that loyally follows disabled shoppers (video)
Microsoft's Kinect is the gift that keeps on giving for hackers, spawning everything from glasses-free teleconferencing to Tesla coil manipulation to uh, well, Android dance parties. But Luis de Matos's wi-Go project is one of the most socially conscious we've seen: it adds a laptop and (despite its name) a Kinect to a shopping cart, enabling the cart to follow a wheelchair user. Improving on the B.O.S.S. bot we saw a half-decade ago, the wi-Go could allow anyone -- including the disabled or elderly -- to shop independently, regardless of physical capability. De Matos doesn't offer many technical details, but see the video above for a before-and-after demonstration.
Kinect hack turns your living room into a crazy one-man laser techno dance party (video)
We've seen it aid surgery, help make smarter robots, and even do some gaming stuff, but honestly, what good is a controller if it can't fuel your crazy techno dance parties? Vimeo user Matt "Namethemachine" Davis posted a video showing a new hack for the peripheral, using its camera-based motion detection, combined with Ableton Live, DMX protocol, and more clever hackery to create a one-man electro-laser light show. It's easy to see this getting a bit out of control real fast in a room packed with overexcited club goers, but if you're looking to recreate the communal experience for you and your cat in your one bedroom apartment, this may be just the ticket.
Researchers hack Kinect for glasses-free 3D teleconferencing (video)
Since the dawn of Kinect hacking, we've seen cameras strung together (or rotated) to create 3D, video game-like environments, while others have tweaked it for headtracking. Others, still, have used it for teleconferencing (albeit, the flat, two-dimensional variety). Now, a team of researchers have gone and thrown it all together to achieve 3D video chats, and if we do say so, the result is greater than a sum of its parts. The group, based out of UNC-Chapel Hill, uses 3D mapping (and at least four Kinects) to render the video, and then employs headtracking on the receiving end so that people tuning in will actually see the live video in 3D, even without wearing 3D glasses. The result: a tableau that follows you as you move your head and spin around restlessly in your desk chair waiting for the meeting to end. That's mighty impressive, but we can't help but wonder: do you really want to see your colleagues in such lifelike detail? Have a gander at the video and decide for yourself.
Man steers R/C car with his hands, not to mention an HTML5-based web app (video)
With the right Arduino board, an R/C race car, a couple paperclips and the MacGyver spirit, we imagine most anyone can hack together a creative remote control these days... but how many can open-source an HTML5 web app that'll do the deed from any tablet, phone or PC? Gaurav Manek crafted just such a thing, and he'll demonstrate it for you on an Apple iPad in the video immediately above. What's more, he's also got a Kinect hack that uses Microsoft depth camera (with Code Laboratories' NUI SDK) to control the very same with the wave of a well-placed hand -- we're already envisioning fisticuffs should he and a lab partner try for some head-to-head racing action. That said, you don't need to wait for an illustrious creator to have all the fun. Why not download his source code at our links below and give it a go yourself?
Kinect dives into anime cyberspace, dares you to catch cute robot tanks (video)
If your foremost dream is to jack into a dystopian cyberpunk reality where hackers play with human brains (and you also happen to love Japanese anime), you'd best book your flight to Tokyo right now -- a Shibuya department store has set up a basic cyberspace simulator straight out of Ghost in the Shell. That's the film Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society, to be precise, which just got a stereoscopic 3D re-release in Japan this week, and in its honor creative services company Kayac set about constructing a high-quality Kinect hack. Microsoft's depth camera tracks the lean of your body, while the honeyed virtual reality is projected onto a pair of nearby walls, and it's your objective to slap the Tachikoma tank silly without falling over yourself. Get a peek at what it's like to play with in the video above.
Wii Remote Plus joins Kinect and Vuzix shades for 2011's weirdest VR shooter yet (video)
The natural evolution to Nao_u's impressive Kinect- and Vuzix-infused already impressive virtual reality simulator? Guns, of course. A Wii Remote Plus has been added to his project, joining Microsoft's sensor and VR920 LCD glasses for a VR shooting game that involves, well, lobbing paintballs out of a P90 rifle towards flying disembodied anime characters. Make no mistake, it's a great technical demo chock full of aesthetic eccentricities. Full details via the developer's diary, video after the break.
Kinect meets Minecraft, animates a giant statue in your honor (video)
This isn't the first time Kinect and Minecraft have crossed paths -- scavenge the 'nets and you'll find plenty of user interface examples. What Nathan Viniconis has done, however, is different. What you're looking at above is rendered instantly by way of using what the Kinect sees and constructing an in-world monument in real time. Not only that, but the project has now evolved into a sort of stop motion animation. It's pretty impressive, even for those who have little to no idea what Minecraft is. All the nitty gritty details are available on the project page. The video, of course, is after the break.
Kinect combos Street Fighter IV, fires single-fisted boomsticks at the FPS crowd (video)
Oh sure, we've seen the Kinect assist a hadouken or two, but that wasn't the same: here, the YouTube user who brought us Call of Duty via Wiimote, Nunchuk and Kinect is throwing fireballs and taking names in the real game. Demize2010 manipulated the FAAST emulator to recognize a variety of virtual martial arts gestures, including the infamous dragon uppercut and whirlwind kick -- giving him everything he needs for a flowchart victory with only his bare hands. Meanwhile, one Bill Maxwell has taken the Kinect and made it recognize his fist, the better to control first-person shooter games with requiring an Wiimote intermediary. He's developed a "high-speed kinematic tracker" called MaxFPS that monitors his hand's position in real time, allowing him to move, turn, jump, and reload with quick swipes of his paw. How do you shoot? Why, by punching those baddies' lights out, of course. See it on video after the break.
Kinect + projector = augmented reality fireballs (video)
We've seen fancy augmented reality projection before, but we've rarely been able to take it home -- now, it seems Microsoft's hack-friendly Kinect can bring the same trick to the consumer realm. Elliot Woods took the idea that Kinect can map a three-dimensional space and twisted it to his own devious ends -- that is, throwing traditional Street Fighter fireball blasts, complete with the sound effect. What's impressive here, though, isn't the size of his hadouken, but rather the light it's made of -- each is a virtual dynamic light source casting light on the room's real objects to create virtual shadows on the surfaces that stick out. Sounds lovely, but if you can't wrap your head around all that, you'll find all the hot fireball action you need in the video after the break at roughly the five minute mark.
OpenVizsla USB sniffer meets its funding goal, and then some
It's not iPad nano watch money -- seriously, what is? -- but with hours to go before the final bell, USB sniffer OpenVizsla has exceeded its initial funding goal by more than 400 percent. That's over $70,000 as of this writing, with about 510 backers including Stephen Fry, who was pretty vocal about his support (that must help). If you'll recall, the project -- from iPhone dev team and Twiizers virtuosos pytey and bushing -- aims to make a cheap USB analyzer that can help decode proprietary devices, the popular anecdote being it's the same concept used in the Kinect hack how-to. It's not too late to pledge, of course, and doing so will get you some special goodies. Need more convincing? We're gonna embed Alma the dog's video debut after the break.
