MIT student creates KinectBot prototype, possibly triggers robotic apocalypse
'Weekend project' yields Kinect-enabled robot 'rescuer'
Microsoft's Kinect is fast becoming the weapon of choice for hackers who see greater applications for the relatively inexpensive, 3D mapping technology beyond petting virtual animals.
MIT student Philipp Robbel, for example, recently developed the KinectBot, a motion sensing robot with some interesting (or terrifying?) applications...
Utilizing Kinect's 3D sensors on top of an iRobot Create body, KinectBot uses Kinect's mapping technology to identify basic human gestures and respond accordingly. It can also be used to survey an environment and send a detailed 3D image back to a remote computer.
According to Robbel, the intent of the KinectBot project was to create a robot that could be deployed in swarms to rescue humans at disasters sites. Which is great, of course, until the'swarms' become 'armies' and 'rescue humans' becomes'eradicated theorganic rebels.'
Irrational fears aside, Robbel's work is an awesome example of what happens when smart people get a hold of smart toys. For more, check outMIT's Personal Robots Group website.
Nov 18, 2010
[Source: Singularity Hub]
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
Robots that don't make any sense
The mechanized friends and foes that wouldn't even make it past Apple's discerning QA testing
Matt Bradford wrote news and features here at GamesRadar+ until 2016. Since then he's gone on to work with the Guinness World Records, acting as writer and researcher for the annual Gamer's Edition series of books, and has worked as an editor, technical writer, and voice actor. Matt is now a freelance journalist and editor, generating copy across a multitude of industries.