Microsoft’s Kinect Dev Kit Makes You A Universal Remote Control

This autumn, Microsoft will release an official software development kit for its Kinect camera, catching up to the open source community and giving fully sanctioned creative control of its motion sensing Xbox 360 controller. Here’s Microsoft’s pitch on what Kinect can do in the hands of, well, anyone.

And while the tech demos on display in this hype vid let you pinch, grab and fly through space, don’t be surprised if you’re less impressed by what the open source hacking community has done with Kinect. You won’t see a mash-up of Kinect and Minecraft, nor will you see people playing with Tesla coils.

But wheelchairs controlled with a Kinect interface and proximity sensor that helps the visually impaired “see” might make a better case for Microsoft’s controller being used for good.