Quadrocopters reined in by Kinect leash, we feel safer already
posted Jul 4th 2011 at 1:01AM
It seems like the folks over at the Flying Machine Arena are finally starting to catch on — those quadrocopters are going to kill us all. Thankfully, after teaching them to juggle and tap out some tunes, the researchers came to their senses and put the flying machines on a Kinect-controlled leash. Instead of flitting about autonomously, the four-rotored nightmares are directed by a puppeteer waving his hands. Movement is controlled by the right hand, while raising the left one tells the copter to do a little flip for its master’s amusement, and a commanding clap makes it sit down like a good little pup. Best of all, if you don’t give it any arm-waving instruction it just hovers and waits until you tell it otherwise. On further consideration, maybe we haven’t been creating our own murderers, but a new man’s best friend — after all, they don’t eat much and can’t chew up your remotes. Check out the video after the break.