Sports and the Kinect seem to go hand in hand. The top selling game in the Kinect’s Library is the Kinect Sports which allows users to simulate different games like baseball and soccer. This is why it’s not surprising that the Kinect is also finding sports-related applications outside of video gaming. Today’s featured Kinect hack is somewhat sports related – a projectile tracker!
The hack utilizes Kinect SDK for depth imaging, XNA 4.0 for the display and OpenCV plus EmguCV for image processing. The result, as the video will show, is a prototype projectile tracker that is not only able to track objects but predict trajectories as well.
The project is part of an even bigger project called the ‘Kinect Turret’ wherein the developer plans to put together a system that tracks projectiles and intercepts them with airsoft pellets. The project, as of this writing, is almost complete with just one more milestone remaining, based on the developer’s website.
I’m already imagining a turret system to defend my room using this hack. Imagine unwitting intruders getting pelted with airsoft pellets if they come too close. It might not replace an expensive home security system just yet, but it should be fun watching unwanted visitors howl in pain and flee.
