Is Kinect for Windows Darth Vader’s secret?
As every Star Wars fan knows, telekinesis—the ability to move physical objects by using mental energy—is a major aspect of the Force. Who can forget Darth Vader telekinetically choking Admiral Motti in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope?
Well, now that the latest film in the Star Wars franchise has been released, the developers at ELEKS Labs have decided to unleash the Force in all of us—provided we have a Kinect for Xbox One sensor, a Sphero 2.0, and a nifty app that they developed and posted on GitHub. As the video below shows, their app enables users to control the movement of a Sphero by gesturing with their hand. The Kinect sensor detects the gestures and the ELEKS code translates them into commands that get the Sphero rolling around in response. Instant Vader—or Obi Wan, if you don’t identify with the Dark Side.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V6tGSvKHvQ
Using the Sphero was a natural, as it’s the basis of the BB-8 robot in the current Star Wars movie. Employing the latest Kinect sensor
and SDK was a no-brainer, too, since, as Roman Rudyak, a .NET developer at ELEKS states, the Kinect for Xbox One provided “120 Mb/sec color data, 13 Mb/sec depth data, 13 Mb/sec infrared data, 32 Kb/sec audio and other cool features. . . . Plus, Kinect SDK allows skeletal tracking for up to six people at the same time. All this makes Kinect the right sensor for creating human-technology interaction.”
So, if you long to be a Padawan (a Jedi in Training), this is your opportunity to feel the Force!
The Kinect for Windows Team
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