Telekinesis is best known as a psychic ability allowing a person to influence a physical system without physical interaction. Microsoft engineer Mike Taulty from the company’s Developer and Platform Group has managed to use Microsoft Kinect, along with Sphero, a robotic toy controlled by a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth, to harness augmented telekinetic powers, similar to Professor X. As X-Men fans know, he’s a mutant who possesses vast telepathic powers, and is among the strongest and most powerful telepaths in the Marvel Universe. He is able to perceive the thoughts of others or project his own thoughts within a radius of approximately 250 miles (400 km). Continue reading for the video demonstration.
“Taulty used it to build an app for Kinect that runs on his laptop and interfaces with the Sphero. Instead of using touch as input, he can use the position of his hands with respect to his body as input. This system relies on Kinect�s skeletal tracking, which by the way is significantly more accurate in the second-generation sensor. Here�s a recap of the improvements Microsoft made to the feature over the first generation,” says Venture Beat.
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