Sunday, June 5, 2011

Newest Kinect hack: a grocery cart that loyally follows disabled shoppers (video)



Microsoft's Kinect is the gift that keeps on giving for hackers, spawning everything from glasses-free teleconferencing to Tesla coil manipulation to uh, well, Android dance parties
. But Luis de Matos's wi-Go project is one of the most socially conscious we've seen: it adds a laptop and (despite its name) a Kinect to a shopping cart, enabling the cart to follow a wheelchair user. Improving on the B.O.S.S. bot we saw a half-decade ago, the wi-Go could allow anyone -- including the disabled or elderly -- to shop independently, regardless of physical capability. De Matos doesn't offer many technical details, but see the video above for a before-and-after demonstration.

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