For the past two months, the Microsoft Kinect has
enabled scientists to create hologram-like images,
build 3-D models of homes and even make
robots do pushups.
Soon, it may help NASA scientists teleconference
in three dimensions.
Researchers at the NASA Astrobiology Institute
outside Mountain View are considering the
purchase of several Kinects to enable scientists to
cheaply teleconference and share 3-D data, using
nothing more than Microsoft's gaming peripheral
and some software developed at UC Davis.
It's all because of a $150 device that hackers,
hobbyists and even government scientists are
using in ways it was never intended: the Kinect, a
motion-tracking peripheral for the Xbox console
that is packed with an irresistible blend of
cameras and sensors.
Microsoft reportedly spent hundreds of millions
of dollars to develop the Kinect, which has been a
runaway hit. The company has sold 8 million of
the devices since it was released, Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer announced at last week's
Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
While Kinect hacking became a popular pastime
worldwide shortly after the device's Nov. 4
release, much of the most prominent work has
taken place in and around Silicon Valley.
This month, Menlo Park technology incubator
Willow Garage is sponsoring a contest for the
most interesting new use of the Kinect's depth
sensor with a robot. The top prize is $3,000, and
entries are beginning to roll in. Early entries have
shown inventors controlling robots with their
arms, making the robots do pushups and other
tasks.
"We've always had sensors like these available,
but they were very expensive," said Tim Conley,
the contest's senior software engineer at Willow
Garage. "As soon as the Kinect came out,
everyone in the office could buy one. When
something is cheap and almost disposable, you
can play with it in ways you wouldn't with
something that's much more expensive. You can
endanger it."
Much of the hacking to date has involved a 3-D
camera, built by the Israeli company PrimeSense,
which Microsoft licensed for the Kinect. When
attached to a robot, the camera allows its host to
perceive depth accurately - an ability essential to
robots being able to navigate.
That's important if your robot, like Patrick
Bouffard's, is airborne.
Late at night, after his children have gone to bed,
Bouffard enters his laboratory at UC Berkeley and
begins working with his small Kinect-enhanced
helicopter.
Project Natal
Bouffard, 33, is a graduate student working on
ways to help computer-guided vehicles avoid
collisions. Last year, he began to hear chatter
around the lab about the technology embedded
in Project Natal, Microsoft's codename for the
product that became Kinect.
When the device came out, Bouffard read a
posting on a Web forum challenging developers
to take data from the Kinect and integrate it with
Robot Operating System, the open-source
software Bouffard and others use to create
smarter robots.
Shortly afterward, following a meeting with his
adviser, Bouffard and a fellow student both
requested to speak with her. Both wanted to ask
the same question: Can we buy some Kinects for
the lab?
The adviser, Claire Tomlin, said yes, and Bouffard
got his Kinect. With the Kinect attached,
Bouffard's 4-pound helicopter, called a quadrotor,
could suddenly perceive objects in its path. He
posted a video to YouTube of the quadrotor
detecting an object in front of it and then
stopping. The video was a viral hit; to date it has
attracted nearly 800,000 views.
The project started off as something of a lark,
Bouffard said, but he expects the Kinect will play a
role in his research as he continues his work in
robotics and collision avoidance.
Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2011%2F01%2F09%2FBUO01H4ISI.DTL
enabled scientists to create hologram-like images,
build 3-D models of homes and even make
robots do pushups.
Soon, it may help NASA scientists teleconference
in three dimensions.
Researchers at the NASA Astrobiology Institute
outside Mountain View are considering the
purchase of several Kinects to enable scientists to
cheaply teleconference and share 3-D data, using
nothing more than Microsoft's gaming peripheral
and some software developed at UC Davis.
It's all because of a $150 device that hackers,
hobbyists and even government scientists are
using in ways it was never intended: the Kinect, a
motion-tracking peripheral for the Xbox console
that is packed with an irresistible blend of
cameras and sensors.
Microsoft reportedly spent hundreds of millions
of dollars to develop the Kinect, which has been a
runaway hit. The company has sold 8 million of
the devices since it was released, Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer announced at last week's
Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
While Kinect hacking became a popular pastime
worldwide shortly after the device's Nov. 4
release, much of the most prominent work has
taken place in and around Silicon Valley.
This month, Menlo Park technology incubator
Willow Garage is sponsoring a contest for the
most interesting new use of the Kinect's depth
sensor with a robot. The top prize is $3,000, and
entries are beginning to roll in. Early entries have
shown inventors controlling robots with their
arms, making the robots do pushups and other
tasks.
"We've always had sensors like these available,
but they were very expensive," said Tim Conley,
the contest's senior software engineer at Willow
Garage. "As soon as the Kinect came out,
everyone in the office could buy one. When
something is cheap and almost disposable, you
can play with it in ways you wouldn't with
something that's much more expensive. You can
endanger it."
Much of the hacking to date has involved a 3-D
camera, built by the Israeli company PrimeSense,
which Microsoft licensed for the Kinect. When
attached to a robot, the camera allows its host to
perceive depth accurately - an ability essential to
robots being able to navigate.
That's important if your robot, like Patrick
Bouffard's, is airborne.
Late at night, after his children have gone to bed,
Bouffard enters his laboratory at UC Berkeley and
begins working with his small Kinect-enhanced
helicopter.
Project Natal
Bouffard, 33, is a graduate student working on
ways to help computer-guided vehicles avoid
collisions. Last year, he began to hear chatter
around the lab about the technology embedded
in Project Natal, Microsoft's codename for the
product that became Kinect.
When the device came out, Bouffard read a
posting on a Web forum challenging developers
to take data from the Kinect and integrate it with
Robot Operating System, the open-source
software Bouffard and others use to create
smarter robots.
Shortly afterward, following a meeting with his
adviser, Bouffard and a fellow student both
requested to speak with her. Both wanted to ask
the same question: Can we buy some Kinects for
the lab?
The adviser, Claire Tomlin, said yes, and Bouffard
got his Kinect. With the Kinect attached,
Bouffard's 4-pound helicopter, called a quadrotor,
could suddenly perceive objects in its path. He
posted a video to YouTube of the quadrotor
detecting an object in front of it and then
stopping. The video was a viral hit; to date it has
attracted nearly 800,000 views.
The project started off as something of a lark,
Bouffard said, but he expects the Kinect will play a
role in his research as he continues his work in
robotics and collision avoidance.
Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2011%2F01%2F09%2FBUO01H4ISI.DTL
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