
MAGAZINE: HACKSeeing Robotics with New EyesMicrosoft's Kinect provides a cheap way for robots to interact with their surroundings.AUGUST 2011
BY ERICA NAONE
Since Microsoft launched its Kinect motion-detecting system for video games, hackers have been eagerly repurposing the $150 device. Garratt Gallagher, a robotics engineer at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, used it to build a robot called the Bilibot that he is selling online for $1,200. The device, which is small enough for Gallagher to carry in his arms, can perceive its surroundings, move around, and manipulate objects. The Kinect is a key element, Gallagher says, because it can detect its environment just as well as a sensor that costs $5,000. With...