A FIRST for Kinect. Kinect added to FIRST Robotics Competition Tool Kit

While today's entry doesn't have code to share, it wets the appetite for code that may be available in the future... Plus it mentions robots!

FIRST Adds Kinect Technology to Robotics Competition Tool Kit

I’m thrilled to be part of a new phase of the partnership between Dean Kamen’s FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) organization and Microsoft (including the Microsoft Research Connections group). Last week, FIRST announced that Microsoft’s Kinect for Xbox 360 sensor and the Kinect for Windows SDK beta software will be included in the standard robotics Kit of Parts for the 2012 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) season.

FRC is a unique “Varsity Sport for the Mind,” which is designed to help young people discover the interesting and rewarding aspects of engineering and research, while challenging teams and their mentors to solve problems in a six-week timeframe by using a standard Kit of Parts and a common set of rules. The 2012 kit will include Kinect technology, enabling competitors to not just control the robot, but to “be the robot.”

By combining the Kinect technology with robotics, competitors will be able to control their robots by using a natural user interface—with potentially no joystick, game controller, or other input device required. Teams will have the option of programming their robots to respond to custom gestures that their human teammates create, or by using default code and gestures. Kinect will be beta tested by using robots built by FIRST students in the coming weeks in preparation for the 2012 competition.

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Learn More

• FIRST Adds Kinect for Xbox 360 Technology to High-School Robotics Competition Tool Kit for 2012
• FIRST
• Kinect for Windows SDK beta
• Kinect for Xbox 360
• Natural User Interface at Microsoft Research Connections

Project Information URL: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/msr_er/archive/2011/10/13/first-adds-kinect-technology-to-robotics-competition-tool-kit.aspx

Contact Information:

• Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/msr_er