NU6 - Ideas on Kinect

Innovative Ideas for Kinect by R090206

 It's only 47 days before Christmas. For the kids, it's about time to ask their Mom and Dad to buy them gifts. In these days, game for them equates to gadgets and consoles. One of these famous consoles is the Xbox 360. It now comes with a new accessory which is called Kinect.

For those not familiar with Kinect, it is defined in Wikipedia as:

Kinect for Xbox 360, or simply Kinect (originally known by the code name Project Natal) is a motion sensing input device by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game console. Based around a webcam-style add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, it enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controller, through a natural user interface using gestures and spoken commands.

Simply put, it is what you attached to your Xbox so that you can play the game using your own body as a controller.

This kind of technology is not only applicable to games. In fact, in February 21, 2011, Microsoft released a non-commercial software development kit for it. Since it's relatively new, listed below are some of my ideas on how to use the Kinect other than gaming. Some of them may or may not exist already.

The obvious application would be on presentation. In fact, I've seen one on a seminar. However, this needs to polish even more. It would be a good idea to integrate this to an office application like Microsoft PowerPoint so that non-technical users can be able to create amazing presentations. Imagine moving to the next slide at the flick of a finger, or maximizing the slide by a simple gesture.

Using the movie Minority Report as an inspiration, the Kinect can be used as a User Interface in a computer. Like the movie, the user can simply type in the air, point his fingers and wave then the computer would automatically execute the said command.

Again using a movie as an insight, the Kinect can be used in Engineering work like that of Iron Man. Coupled with 3D Glasses, designing sophisticated machines would be easy and interactive. It's like touching the real thing. The user can enlarge the design, rotate and tweak some parts using just his hands and fingers. No need to memorize cryptic commands.

In the late 70's up to early 80's, there is a famous cartoon named Diamos. It's a robot where it imitates the movement of its user. The Kinect can be used like a "Diamos" of some sort. Of course controlling a big robot would be very far from the future albeit possible, the Kinect can control small robots or even just robotic arms. Imagine a doctor doing an overseas operation and controlling the operation via Kinect; or a bomb being defused by a robot being controlled using Kinect; or an astronaut using it in space to explore. It's basically using a robot to keep the user in harm's way while still being in control.

The Kinect can also be used in learning some skills. Music or drawing can be trained with it. The Kinect can observe the fingers in a piano or guitar and correct the user for each wrong position. It can also observe the movements while learning to draw and suggest possible improvements. Other skills like learning to bike, skate and such, the Kinect can observe your movement and give feedback to do it properly.

It's true that Kinect is now famous for its games. But a kid's toy, when viewed using a wild imagination and thirst for innovation can also be a man's plaything.

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