Kinect hacks, performance art: pin boards, puppets, RoboThespian and a X-Ray Magic Mirror

Microsoft's Kinect has seen some very clever and innovative things done from researchers around the world with minimum budgets. Hopefully the game development community is keeping notes.

Kinect Hacks Video Below.


Kinect Hack: Humanoid Robot with Motion Sensing Technology, @Cebit 2011, Hannover - Germany



We Be Monsters :: A Collaborative Kinect Puppet



Kinect Hack: Pin Boards


Kinect Hack: X-Ray Magic Mirror

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Open source DARwIn-OP bot can be yours for a cool $12,000

A few weeks the world got a peek of the open source, modular DARwIn-OP developed at Virginia Tech's Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory, also known as RoMeLa.

A Korean company Robotis is making available the bot's open source software, schematics, CAD and fabrication manuals, in addition to selling the fully assembled robots. DARwin-OP was unveiled recently at the IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, and is built on a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530-based FitPC2i which boasts a 4GB SSD, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, 802.11n WiFi. Shipments of the 17.9-inch tall humanoid robots are being sent to universities first at a price of $9,600, and will run $12,000 at full retail.

Just in time for Christmas 2011, who the hell would want a PS3/360 or even a Wii when you can get one of these bad boys. Can you say "SkyNet"

DARwin-OP Bot Video



[Linux Devices]

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US forces developing 'miniature weapons' for killer robots

Every one loves a robot, from the lovable robot from the Jetsons to the evil and ruthless Terminator. The US Army will be developing miniature weapons for killer robots to use in urban combat, so from the looks of things, the future holds tremendous promise for robots that kill and destroy.

Weaponry and aerospace giant Boeing was elated to announce that it had bagged an initial $0.5m deal to look into ideas, which will lead on into another $6.5m of work if the scheme moves forward.

The US armed forces already has a legion of aerial robots that is currently deployed around the world. These Drones are great for Modern Warfare, except for urban combat. Urban combat get's tricky when your target is surrounding by collateral damage.

"The concept behind this technology is designed to generate very low collateral damage," says Boeing exec Carl Avila. "[It] allows warfighters to engage a variety of targets, including those in a suburban terrain environment."

The "miniature weapons" deal from the US Air Force Research Lab, under which Boeing's "Phantom Works" advanced-tech shop will produce something a bit more suitable to counter-insurgency work.

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