Kinect - Has Microsoft actualy got a new winning technoloy at last

[wannabee]

Is it possible that Microsoft's Kinect interface will eventually do as they suggest? I can see how a surgeon not wanting to touch anything while viewing important scan data during surgery would be very practical.
What about the bomb squad defusing bombs with Microsoft's $139.95 X-box interface? Wow!
. . . and watching the musicians play their music via Kinect makes Air Guitar look like it belongs with Fred and Barney.
I'm very impressed. Has anyone done anything like the advert portrays?

[Jellby]

I think that playing an instrument (other than a theremin) without touching it is ridiculous. Not that it looks ridiculous, which shouldn't be a problem anyway, but it's nothing like the real thing, you need some kind of tactile feedback and reference for that. Besides, is the device really able to detect the subtle movements of the fingers while playing violin?

[afa]

No idea if the things shown in the ad are remotely realistic, but there is no doubt that Kinect is an impressive tech.

For the first time since Microsoft demoed the Surface, they have come with a tech that's actually innovative, which defers from their usual strategy of doing what everyone else was doing 2 years ago.

[fjtorres]

Yes, it works exactly as advertised.
And yes, it can track individual finger joints. Violin? Maybe. Xylophone, drums, and piano; definitely.

The tech has a bright future.
And not just for gaming, as the core tech behind Kinect is computer vision and voice recognition; it uses a lot of the same algorithms in the MS Surface efforts and they have all sorts of ongoing efforts to explore immersive computing. One of them is a "computer room" where every wall is in effect a screen and your gestures control everything, another is using a set of sensors and pico projectors to turn an arbitrary surface into a computer.

It's great tech but there's no telling just what, if anything, will come of it, long-term.
(Besides gaming and TV controls; some TV makers are looking to license the sensor tech.)

Lots of companies come up with interesting tech and demos that don't get anywhere because they're ahead of the times (Rocketbook and Softbook come to mind) or aren't properly deployed and get targetted at the wrong market (MS has been doing excellent TabletPC OSes and software for a decade but its hardware partners have only used it for vertical markets and corporate computing, totally ignoring its natural fit for academia).

Just this week we got a full authopsy on Microsoft's Courier project and it highlights how corporate decisions can torpedo even the most promising of techs. So nothing is ever a sure thing. But the Kinect sensor tech has a way better than average chance to proliferate because it is coming from the low end, it already has achieved commercial success and 10-digit sales, and it s capturing the hearts and minds of future end user cohorts. (There isn't a 5 year old that can resist Kinectimals. )

Word is next year we'll see computers and monitors with short-focus Kinect sensors embedded and full Win8 support so the tech is about to get a lot more serious and productive.

[RainingLemur]

The Kinect is a very cool concept and the sky is the limit for what it may be able to do. I just can't get behind it for playing any kind of video game other than the dancing games.

[fjtorres]

I sense a generation gap in the making.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

The Kinect is a very cool concept and the sky is the limit for what it may be able to do. I just can't get behind it for playing any kind of video game other than the dancing games.

Fighting games. Maybe. Because it's the secret dream of every gamer to make their progress in Soul Calibur or Street Fighter entirely dependent on their acutal real-life martial arts abilities.

Nah.

But if they ever release as series of shotokan or tai jitsu classes that use the kinect to help you hone your technique, then I'll get one.

[fjtorres]

A good fencing game is an option, judging by the promos for Ryse.
For that matter, fantasy rpgs could use gestures and spoken spells.
(Elder Scrolls VI?)
Main thing is a great hardcore game takes a minimum of three years to develop and nobody has had more than two with the Kinect SDKs.
Give it time.

Besides, they still have 5-10 years before the Kinect generation comes of age.

[Andanzas]

I think gyms are going to be a lot more fun pretty soon.

[RichL]

A sculptor with arthritis could still sculpt? I'd go with that. I'd imagine that with a bit of programing someone limited movements could use it to good effect also.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by RichL

A sculptor with arthritis could still sculpt?

Good one!

Kinect + waldoes = big win
Telepresence is just ripe for skeletal motion tracking.

Also, kinect controls on "natural media" 3d modelling software + 3d printers might provide a sculptor's answer to Corel Painter.

Feedback is important but it doesn't have to be tactile; for acoustic systems, feedback can be visual, for others is could be acoustic or numeric. It's a whole new paradigm for interface design so it'll take thought and time to come up with a new set of conventions.

[wannabee]

Originally Posted by Jellby

I think that playing an instrument (other than a theremin) without touching it is ridiculous. Not that it looks ridiculous, which shouldn't be a problem anyway, but it's nothing like the real thing, you need some kind of tactile feedback and reference for that. Besides, is the device really able to detect the subtle movements of the fingers while playing violin?

Fjtorres' comments are interesting

Originally Posted by afa

No idea if the things shown in the ad are remotely realistic, but there is no doubt that Kinect is an impressive tech.

For the first time since Microsoft demoed the Surface, they have come with a tech that's actually innovative, which defers from their usual strategy of doing what everyone else was doing 2 years ago.

yep I agree. I was going to mention innovation and name a fruit Company but decided , best not mess things up here.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I sense a generation gap in the making.

Yep. I witnessed the birth of the mouse, and got ribbed constantly for wanting to use it when everyone else was telling me they weren't needed in REAL computing.

Originally Posted by RichL

A sculptor with arthritis could still sculpt? I'd go with that. I'd imagine that with a bit of programing someone limited movements could use it to good effect also.

yeah... I want to cook my webber BBQ while typing answers in MR, listening to youtube vids while showing the neighbours kids that....." when I was a kid.....there were no wall sensors to cook your BBQ "

[vishcompany]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Feedback is important but it doesn't have to be tactile; for acoustic systems, feedback can be visual, for others is could be acoustic or numeric. It's a whole new paradigm for interface design so it'll take thought and time to come up with a new set of conventions.

Maybe I'm oldfashioned, but as a musician I can tell you, that with the music instruments as they are at the moment, acoustic and tactile feed back are absolutely essential. When learning to play a musical instrument, it takes years to develop sensorial abilities in your fingers and whatever parts of your body, which are involved in creating the sound. When creating a sound, you constantly rely on this feedback, in order to keep the sound clean and beautiful (or harsh or ugly, whatever you want or need to create). The mere position of the finger on a string (in order to define the pitch) is just a small fraction of what it means to make music. I did not even talk about wind instruments yet, where mouth and lips are involved, etc.
Basically, when playing an instrument, you are interacting with it and part of it is the resistance it gives you. Playing air guitar is a nice idea, but not much more.
Maybe there will be new concepts of creating sounds (eg. the beforementioned Teremin), but creating the sound reqired today on today's instruments, we will have to stick to the good old blood, sweat and tears of the days of yore.

[wodin]

For what it's worth, my personal opinion (prediction) is that Kinect technology is the future of computing, we've been chained to keyboards and mouses for way too long! And it's what will bail MS out of a long string of somewhat less than visionary executive decisions.


Now if they could just squeeze into, say, a 7" tablet ...

[5thWiggle]

Originally Posted by wodin

For what it's worth, my personal opinion (prediction) is that Kinect technology is the future of computing, we've been chained to keyboards and mouses for way too long!

That will certainly change the office cubicle as we know it!

Quiz:
What's this man doing?
a) exercising
b) editing a Word document
c) waiting for Jackie Chan to break through the window and end his Evil Empire