A few weeks ago, I was very lucky to have been invited by the NUS School of Computing to provide feedback to students for their project in Module CS4202. This module is focused on Human Computer Interaction and the teams were assigned to use the Kinect system for their projects.

All of the teams used the Kinect to some extent. Of course some utilized it better than others and it really shows through the projects. It was interesting to see how the teams approached the problems given to them and how they thought of incorporating the Kinect. It reminded me of a video released by Microsoft sometime back after it noticed how people are innovating on the Kinect. A cheap, yet powerful sensor that has infinite uses only limited by one’s imagination.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/T_QLguHvACs[/youtube]

Prof. Sheng from NUS gave me the link to their blog and it shows all the projects that was presented. You can check it out here

A couple of projects that stood out for me were

Human Kinect Exhibit

[youtube]http://youtu.be/mDweANoZAZk[/youtube]

The Human Kinect Exhibit focused on providing a fun learning environment for children to learn about the human anatomy. The game they created was fun and engaging and provided a learning environment for children to learn some information about bones. On first glance the project seems like a simple game but what really fascinated me was the reaction and interaction of the audience once they have set the application up at the Science Museum.

The feedback and the reaction of the users was very valuable for the team as this proves that their game is enjoyable and educational. For me, nothing beats getting your product out and getting people to try it out.

ChopChopMirror

[youtube]http://youtu.be/1kllEzn9Wgk[/youtube]

ChopChop Mirror is a great concept. They treated the Kinect as an interface for your digital assistant. I think this will be a common feature in our bathroom mirrors as we enable more screens with touch and intelligence.

The concept itself is in it’s infancy but I can really see intelligent houses in the near future once interfaces and components become cheaper.

I liked the project because of their forward thinking and how they designed the interface.

Aside from that, it also reminds me of one video from Microsoft envisioning the future. Microsoft releases envisioning videos every year, giving us a glimpse of what the future has for us trough the eyes of the largest software company in the world.

This year’s envisioning video has something similar to ChopChop Mirror in some shape or form.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/a6cNdhOKwi0[/youtube]

I’m really grateful to have been invited by Prof. Sheng to his class. I saw some great projects and realized how much potential a student has given the right technology. Looking forward to their future projects!

 

 

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