Kinect Tangible Table Prototype 47
baxpace writes "The first open source prototype of a tangible table using the Microsoft Kinect sensor. The hack is essentially a proof of concept that can serve a multitude of purposes including a real-time analysis on urban models. The program uses the Kinect point cloud which is mapped onto a flat surface. The upper layer of the point cloud will apply a colour to anything that is placed on the table and is recognized by the Kinect depth sensor. Every object that is placed on the table is detected automatically and in turn becomes trackable."
Where's the news? (Score:2, Insightful)
As far as I can tell, he's just projecting the depth (as a few color bands) on top of the table. About five lines of Python with libfreenect and OpenCV. He isn't even tracking anything, just projecting the raw depth quantized to a few layers and roughly calibrated onto the table. Seriously, there are probably hundreds of Kinect hacks more impressive than this one.
The only odd part about this Kinect hack is that he's using the ugly proprietary CodeLabs NUI drivers instead of OpenKinect/libfreenect or OpenNI/SensorKinect.
Some clarification (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Where's the news? (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm sorry to say your comment sounds like "i didn't like this, so others shouldn't either" , I know you didn't intend that, but this is STILL news-worthy, perhaps not /. "perfect" b/c it doesn't have any....technology... ...computers.... ...futuristic vision tech... oh... wait.... I Was still impressed with this demo. Like all research, it is built upon the work of others and incrementally tweaked/improved/etc. Just because this "could" have been done before, doesn't mean it has been, and even if it has been, this is a nice presentation of what could be done with a table-top presentation.
Maybe this isn't "good enough" for you for it to be on the front of /. but my reply to that is, then do something better. Just because others happened to do some work and some others thought it was thought provoking/cool/anything doesn't mean your opinion should out vote theirs.
< end of /. rant > Been on this site for many a year and just never registered, posts like this have always irked me