Presentation!

[Lee Brown Apted]

Project Natal

Description of the Project

Project Natal is an X Box 360 piece of hardware that allows users to interact with the console in ways only dreamed off. Using a video camera to track your body as well as a monochrome camera that reads depth, the console can pick up body movements and transform them into functions and actions for the X box. A Highly specialized microphone is used to input voice commands with other software that allows the X box to keep track of 48 body joints. This device can also separate voices, allow it to distinguish between the user’s voice, the
voice of other people in the room and the sounds of the X Box itself. (http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1902208,00.html) Project Natal also recognises your face as you step in front of it and logs you into your profile instantly. This means it also can recognise what is clothing and what is wallpaper, who is the user and who isn’t, allowing for easy use just like any normal controller.

Nature of the work

Project Dissemination

Although the Project Natal has not been released as of yet, it has been announced that it will be compatible with all X box 360s. It has been given to game developers in order for them to create games using the device and thus far popular games such as Left for Dead 2, Halo Reach and Metal Gear Solid have been made
compatible with Natal and these are just to name a few. (http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/02/business/fi-ct-microsoft-ga...).With Natal rumoured to be released in November/December in 2010, the company is keeping
any other developments under wraps until then.

Use of Technology

As the Natal is not out yet, one can really only assume that the uses will vary because of the different games and applications that will be released with it. However from the Project Natal video released on the X Box website (http://www.xbox.com/en-au/live/projectnatal/) we can see that it can be used in multiplayer settings, as well as video conferencing, gaming and even as a fashion device (to show what a particular piece of clothing would look like on a person). Although many people are worried about the lagging that may occur with the motion tracking while playing high speed games that require you to do quick movements in order to play successfully, whether this will be an actual issue remains unknown.

Documentation Process

Project Natal was created for commercial reason therefore the documentation process is not readily available as of yet.

How this project is relevant to the course

Since Virtual Reality was introduced to me, I have always thought it would be great to play a game with the use of virtual reality goggles and whatever else. Project Natal comes very close, using sensors
Project Natal tracks body movements letting you interact with the game like you
never could before, using voice and face recognition, you are now not only a
profile in the game but an avatar while just being you. This project combines
so many natural and human elements that I can see true virtual reality just
around the corner.

It also happens to be physical computing at its finest, with this technology in the streets anything is possible. The hardest part is to figure out how you want the user to interact in the system, what easier way then to just stand in front of it. It will recognise you as a user, block all the other people walking behind you out and allow you to interact freely without restriction. Games could be set up for either pure enjoyment for the general public as well as collecting statistics, for instance quizzes can be a good way for statistics would be retrieved as well as just general observation that the sensors might pick up as people walk by it.

This project will can also fit into the health category. Imagine playing a game like World of Warcraft, one that you would usually play for hours rather than minutes. This would require the player to stand and move around while playing the game. No longer would “WoW geeks” (World of Warcraft) be overweight but rather toned and slim because of the amount of time they dedicate to moving around in the world of Warcraft game. While using hand gestures to cast spells, select different attacks, weapons and voice recognition to distinguish between Menus and choices the player might need to make, I imagine that computers will closely follow suit. Getting fit will also give an added incentive to play the game, the more you do the fitter you will become and the further in the game you will get. Granted that perhaps getting hot and bothered maybe the last thing many people want but this has the potential for anything, whatever you can do with a normal control can be done using body movement. This is why I feel it works work with our current topic.

What I have learnt from the project

After seeing a device such as this I have learnt that the possibilities are endless. Have a computer that we can simply talk to in order to relay commands and full A.I. not in the too distant future. In particular seeing what this device is capable of I have learnt that there many uses can be derived from physical computing such as this. If put into a street computing perspective this type of technology can be used to play games, collect
statistics, display information, and even perhaps be used as a device to save lives. Technology could pick up human moves as determine whether they are attacks, fights and even murders.

Finally I have learnt that simple things when combined can create magnificent computing, Project Natal is simple just sensors, cameras and a microphone. However the outcome is superb. Where thinking outside the box isn’t coming up with something totally new but rather using simple things and making them work together. Perhaps for my project I could look at combining simple things in order to create the same effect. In this case the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qlHoxPioM