Kinect Enables Awesome Robotic Modern Art


Why is all the coolest art in the UK these days? Or New York? Or Paris? Or…everywhere I’m NOT? Don’t get me wrong, living in the heart of Silicon Valley has its perks, but this is for all intents and purposes a cultural wasteland. Ah, well.

Noted British artist Ruairi Glynn is showing off his latest piece of modern art at the Tate Modern museum in London, and not only is it a marvel of interactive robotic puppetry, but it uses three Kinect sensors to pull it all off. In building this thing, Glynn and his team have essentially produced the world’s largest interactive mechanical puppet, over 21 meters (63 feet) in length. The Kinect sensors produce a real-time map of the exhibit floor and the patrons standing around on it, and the robot reacts to them in different ways. Meanwhile behind the scenes, an AV team controls the ambient sound effects.

Remind me, what’s the coolest thing Sony’s Move has done lately? Or ever?