Microsoft Kinect Can Be Used To Control Sphero With Hand Gestures, Watch The Demo Now

Do you love telekinesis? You will like this new project from Microsoft Kinect team. Microsoft tech evangelist Mike Taulty showed the ability to move a ball without touching it, using only simple hand gestures, thanks to Kinect for Windows sensor and SDK.

The ball in question is the Sphero, a clever little robot that is normally controlled via a smartphone or tablet. The “magic” behind Taulty’s handiwork comes courtesy of Kinect for Windows v2, as he explains in the video clip above. By adding Kinect to the equation, Taulty made it possible to control Sphero without the need to use a tablet or smartphone. He created his ball-rolling app to demonstrate the potential of Windows 8.1 apps at the Native Summit conference in London this past September. He tied together the Kinect for Windows v2 sensor and the Sphero device with some JavaScript code, and voilà—he could control the rotation of the Sphero with his left hand and its direction of movement with his right.

Microsoft is thinking of applying this technique in various useful ways in the future.

Imagine, for instance, how much more engaged a person could be with a digital display in a shopping center or public space if they could manipulate products or objects themselves. Imagine this simple application applied to a museum installation, an advertising display in a retail store, or a gaming arcade. We may not be able to control objects with our minds, but Kinect for Windows gives us the next best thing.

Source: Microsoft