Xbox 360 Kinect to Play Robotics Game
Video games and real-life robotics are about to collide, as robotics teams prepare to compete using Xbox 360 Kinect controllers at the New York City FIRST Robotics Competition, to be held on March 16-18 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, NY.
“We designed Kinect to make entertainment simpler and more approachable,” said Alex Kipman, GM, Hardware Incubation for Xbox at Microsoft in the FIRST Robotics Competition Kickoff Video. “Technology has so much potential uses beyond the living room. I’m very much looking forward to seeing what (the teams) do with it with (their) robots at the FIRST Robotics Competition.”
During the competition, alliance teams will have the option of supplementing one of their robots’ autonomous routines so that a team member can be the controller.
By doing so, for the first 15 seconds, the combination of the Xbox 360 Kinect and the alliance robot forms a Hybrid, which the driver will be able to control through a series of motions. After 15 seconds, conventional controls kick in and the alliance driver then comes back to help the team.
The Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect is just one of the exciting new additions to the competition and the “Rebound Rumble” format.
NYC FIRST is the regional office of FIRST, a not-for-profit organization created to inspire youth to pursue studies and careers in science and technology and to help students acquire the knowledge and skills needed to compete in the technologically driven global economy.
