Kinect to be Used in Latest Nano-Satellite
Will use its motion-sensing tech to dock with other satellites.
Microsoft's Kinect peripheral is soon to Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before. Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd is reportedly using the motion-sensing device inside its latest nano-satellite, to remotely dock with other such equipment in the vast depths of space.
It's part of an initiative to use consumer technology in tiny spacecraft, in order to save money on research. The STRaND (Surrey Training Research and Nanosatellite Development) line of devices will use Kinect within its STRaND-2 nanosat.
According to The Register, "STRaND-2 is going to use Xbox Kinect tech to see if two satellites can "see" each other in space and hook up with each other. The idea is that the sats would be able to map themselves relative to the other the same way that Kinect broadly sees movement for playing Xbox games. They could then move into position side by side and dock."
Pretty damn nifty. Project leader Shaun Kenyon was quoted as saying, "We were really impressed by what MIT had done flying an autonomous model helicopter that used Kinect and asked ourselves: Why has no-one used this in space? Once you can launch low cost nanosatellites that dock together, the possibilities are endless - like space building blocks."
First, Kinect took to the skies - now it's taking on space. Where next?
It's part of an initiative to use consumer technology in tiny spacecraft, in order to save money on research. The STRaND (Surrey Training Research and Nanosatellite Development) line of devices will use Kinect within its STRaND-2 nanosat.
According to The Register, "STRaND-2 is going to use Xbox Kinect tech to see if two satellites can "see" each other in space and hook up with each other. The idea is that the sats would be able to map themselves relative to the other the same way that Kinect broadly sees movement for playing Xbox games. They could then move into position side by side and dock."
Pretty damn nifty. Project leader Shaun Kenyon was quoted as saying, "We were really impressed by what MIT had done flying an autonomous model helicopter that used Kinect and asked ourselves: Why has no-one used this in space? Once you can launch low cost nanosatellites that dock together, the possibilities are endless - like space building blocks."
First, Kinect took to the skies - now it's taking on space. Where next?
Companies:
Microsoft
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