Developers just wanna have fun! Kinect for Windows

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KinectforWindows-Sensor angled_h_cL.jpegKinect for Windows and it’s SDK gives us a chance to break away from the ordinary and get creative!

I have spent many hours writing validation code for forms, code that read or updated databases, or code that looped through collections. Sure I got creative from time to time with how I wrote my code, but coding for Kinect lets me unleash my creativity in a whole new way!

I had the pleasure of hearing Bill Buxton speak a few months ago. Bill Buxton is the guru of User Experience. User Experience goes beyond just User Interface Design. He challenges us to not just think about making screens that are pretty and easy to use, but to think about the overall user experience. He described some of the ways user experience has evolved:

When you go to the washroom you wave your hand to get a paper towel. That was Kinect 1.0

When you leave the grocery store, the door opens automatically as you push your cart through the doorway. That was Kinect 2.0

So why are doors and paper towel dispensers smarter than our laptops?

It’s an interesting challenge to us as developers to find new ways to interact with our users. The Kinect opens up so many possibilities. Nissan has created avirtual experience using Kinect which shows how you could use Kinect to create a virtual showroom. Then there’s the Kinect virtual fitting room. Kinect provides us with a whole new set of choices when it comes to user experience and lets be honest, it is also just plain fun! Check out the Nerf Gun and Kinect skeletal tracking to protect your office (you can get the code here) or maybe you’d enjoy using Kinect to control Robosapien. Robosapien is a remote control robot that was a big hit with my kids for a few years, without Kinect you controlled it by pressing commands on the remote, using hand gestures and voice commands through Kinect instead of a remote is pretty cool.

So get your geek on with Kinect for Windows. You’ll need the SDK which you can download here and you can keep up to date on the latest news and updates for Kinect for windows keep an eye on their blog. Happy coding!