Gallery: 10 Hacks That Make Microsoft's Kinect a Killer Controller
01the-kinect
The Microsoft Kinect is one of the hottest gaming peripherals we've seen in years, and that's because it can do a lot more than control games. Within weeks after the Kinect hit stores, scientists, programmers and researchers hacked away at the device. It turns out that the Kinect, which consists of cameras and an infrared-light sensor to track and follow your body movement, has applications for medical purposes, language learning and even partying outdoors. Those applications are enabled by a relatively open programming interface which lets people quickly hack together their own custom software to interface with the Kinect hardware. None of these hacks are officially supported by Microsoft, but they demonstrate the amazing potential of turning the human body into an interface controller. Who'da thunk a gaming gadget would be so powerful? What follows are some examples of the coolest Kinect hacks we've seen, pulled from the [Kinect Hacks blog](http://kinecthacks.net/).
02graffiti
Graffiti -------- This hack would be really cool to have at a party. You align a projector with the Kinect, and the projector outputs digital graffiti onto dancers standing in front of it, following their moves. It's a silly hack, but it might even get nervous wallflowers to get up and gave it a little shake.
03boob-physics
Boob Physics ------------ Stand in front of the Kinect, and on-screen you'll be turned into a computer-generated woman with enormous breasts. Move around and they jiggle. For many nerds, that's a complete video game right there.
04body-language
Body Language ------------- Body language can reveal a lot about you feel. This Kinect hack can give your emotions a soundtrack, by mapping music to your body positions.
05street-fighter
*Street Fighter* ---------------- A classic game reinvented with full body movements replacing the controller. Just be careful not to hurricane kick the TV there, Ken.
06pinboard
Pinboard -------- Who doesn't love playing with those oversized pinboards at museums? With this Kinect hack you can play with them at a party, too.
073-d-model
3-D Model --------- Using a handheld version of the Kinect, this hack creates a 3-D model of an entire room by combining a series of snapshots. If this software is further developed, the Kinect could be turned into a cheap 3-D scanner for engineers and hobbyists.
08midi-controller
MIDI Controller --------------- Here's another example of using the Kinect to turn the human body into a sound controller. Hitting different parts of the air plays a different drum sound. Imagine how much fun a street mime could have with this.
09sign-language
Sign Language ------------- This video may induce yawns, but it demonstrates how the Kinect can be used to teach sign language to deaf children. Researchers have been using a game called CopyCat to teach sign language, which required children to wear colored gloves with wrist-mounted accelerometers. Because the Kinect scans a person's skeletal structure, the game no longer requires the gloves, which should make this educational tech more affordable and accessible.
10pr2-robot
PR2 Robot --------- The PR2's joints are similar to a human's, which makes it a neat robot to control with a Kinect. It's fun to imagine controlling robots this way in the future to make them lift heavy items and perform other labor.
11magic-mirror
Magic Mirror ------------ Mirror, mirror on the wall, who has the healthiest spine of them all? That's the idea behind this augmented-reality hack, which takes video from the Kinect's skeleton tracking and uses it to display a CT-scan image of your skeleton on screen, as if you were looking through a window into the interior of your body.
