Making a virtual FAO Schwartz floor piano with the Xbox Kinect

Recently untethered from the Xbox, independent developers have been making some really awesome pieces of software with the Kinect. This project is a perfect example of what's possible when anyone can start writing code for new hardware.

video link

These guys used the OpenKinect library and some Python code to make a virtual keyboard they can place on any surface. The Kinect is accurate enough to allow them to play on a small space on their desk, but also allows them to scale it up to a whole room and get their Tom Hanks on.

[via Kinect Hacks]

• [Anonymous]

  I love the fact that no protections being passed when using the Kinect with Open Source drivers. Without that I’m sure Microsoft would crush something thats truly amazing with the Kineect.

  Its not everyday that a mainstream product becomes popular with a subculture like the Kinect is. I really think though that the most popular aspect about the Kinect will be the commercial applications though. As seen through the Roomba team and its new robot powered by two Kinects.

  Onward and upwards and I hope the OpenKinect community keeps driving this forward!

• [JayConverse]

  Cute trick, but it’s a one-trick pony. No tactile feedback.

  • [mdh]

    well I think it’s frickin’ awesome.

• [Oren Beck]

  Opening up closed devices is often a Very Good Thing. And the gift of blending music with dance will enrich many lives.

  There’s a VERY potentially gnarly downside to the deployment of Kinect’s in our homes. Don’t overlook that it’s a privacy risk with danger multipliers of night vision and the fact of how many Xbox consoles are WiFi connected. Passive Snooping has been given a new depth of risk where images of “us” are now going to be fewer keystrokes away than ever before.

  So, we now have a situation where EVERY Kinect opens us up to snooping- by a night vision camera in places a camera should *NOT* be at all. And this reality has begun to be deployed by folks having no awareness of the risks. Call my comments an example of “Duty To Warn” in a very real sense. The jokes about “Tinfoil Hat” have been slowly becoming an Information Tech age replication of past situations where Crying WOLF! eventually became true too late. In this case? Tinfoil’s overkill, and a cardboard shoebox over the Kinect when it’s not in use might suffice to maintain privacy.

  Frankly- I’m scared witless that we’ve not been strident enough about educating about how anything with a camera or audio pickup should be treated as always recording! Just as I was taught that a firearm is *never* treated as unloaded. There “used to be” mechanical sliders across some digital camera lenses-so there is existing precedent for what I’ve said. Be aware folks- please?

  • [gaberussell]

    The Kinect has night vision?

• [Chentzilla]

  That’s just great, and great choice of song. But how is it called?

  • [Prufrock451]

    Chopsticks. As made famous in this movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKrZiddRphw

  • [Anonymous]

    Actually it’s heart and soul.

    Also, fun fact, FAO Schwarz trains people to play on the piano. There are trained piano dancers.

• [Mitch_M]

  How are they getting all 12 half tones in the octave without the black keys? Are they just making the octave 12 keys wide instead of 7 keys wide?

  • [Andrew Pendleton]

    It’s not clear, but Heart & Soul doesn’t have any accidentals, so you could also just leave out the black keys altogether and be just fine.

    • [Mitch_M]

      Yeah, I was thinking it might be something like that. As long as you only played stuff in C major, or remapped the keyboard to another scale as needed, you would be fine. Still, I’d like the flexibility of having every half tone available. That seems like the next logical step now that they’ve got the basic idea down.

• [TechnoBach]

  ♫”You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out…”♪♫

• [Anonymous]

  Mindboggeling. Think of the pranks you could play with this on any sidewalk, or in a mall.

• [Anonymous]

  @Chentzilla: I believe it’s “I Love the World.” But I’m often wrong about such things.

• [pKp]

  I’m forwarding this to some dancer friends…hehehehe