Overview
Watching TV has been regarded as a lazy activity and its patrons dubbed as ‘Couch Potatoes’. But with this new Kinect hack, TV viewing might give you some exercise, after all. Using his Kinect, Mac mini and a few other gadgets, Harishankar displays how its done. By simply making hand gestures in front of the TV he is able to control simple functions such as turning the TV ‘On’ or ‘Off’, adjusting the volume and changing channels. No more hassles with the elusive, misplaced remotes. All you need is your arm to control the TV and it is not likely you will misplace that!
Hi-tech Features
This is how Hari has made this possible. When he makes hand gestures in front of the Kinect, the signals are transmitted to his Mac mini computer where he uses OpenNI and a code snippet of his own to interpret the gestures. Then this information is converted into specific commands associated with each gesture and relayed to a device called the USB UIRT (USB controlled Universal Infrared Transmitter). This device then transmits the corresponding IR signal to the TV or the Set top Box for necessary action to be taken. Watch the video below to see this in action.
The technology is simple yet powerful. Although the current version might not find many regular users, the potential for the technology is great. In any case, it is fun to try out at home.
