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Crestron Demos Microsoft Kinect Gesture Control
Crestron says it has been testing a new technology by Microsoft that allows Kinect technology to be supported on any Windows-based system, and not just Xbox as in the past.
From Crestron:
Crestron engineers created, and are testing, gestures that integrate Kinect with Crestron control. Crestron control systems will read Kinect gestures so, for example, presenters can sweep their hands left or right to advance/reverse a PowerPoint Presentation and raise or lower hands to dim/raise the lights in the room. With Crestron’s open platform, the possibilities of what you can control and how you can trigger the commands are endless.
Better yet, watch Jeff Singer, Crestron director of global marketing campaigns, demonstrate the Crestron integration with Kinect:
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News · Product News · Videos · Home Automation and Control · Control Systems · Crestron · Demo · Microsoft · Gesture Control · Microsoft Kinect ·About the Author
10 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
Oh boy.. I could only imagine the involuntary volume levels, channel changes, light levels, whatever in a NORMAL household environment! There has to be some type of “master user” recognition - otherwise, forget it!
Yeah, like I really would rather look like I’m having an epileptic fit to change channels than pick up my remote, and press buttons without looking down…
NOT!
Waste of time, I don’t see this advancing to many woops there goes my volume ramping, however does deliver the cool factor 
Also, Google was waaay ahead of them on this one:
Ah, the haters. 
This is actually cool. My concern is that this would have to be an implementation nightmare! Do you put a Kinect in every room of the house?
haha…I’ll wait for mind control…as long as I don’t have to think too hard..
Now, now… think about the possibilities for people with disabilities. Gesture and voice control could be very helpful. Yeah, I still prefer my hard button remote but concepts like this help spark other great ideas. Waiting to see what Apple comes up with. Maybe just a small trackpad type remote that excepts pinch, poke, and multi-finger swipe gestures. That would be much better than waving my arms in the air, or shouting at the TV to change channels.
This is definitely not for Italian families! We already flail our arms around too much as it is.. No way would I want my volume to ramp up while I’m just having a “normal” conversation!
The overriding issue is to accurately detect UNAMBIGUOUS PURPOSEFUL MOVEMENT. Note that the extremely limited demo in the video actually failed one of his commands for a page flip. Imagine being afraid to scratch your head or stretch for fear of ramping the volume… Just like VOICE CONTROL, which shuts itself down because some character in the movie yells STOP… These technologies will eventually converge with artificial intelligence and fuzzy logic for context-testing (probably sooner than later). Then, just like humans, the system can judge from multiple cues as to what meaning, if any, should be implied. And it will have the benefit of being able to ask for clarification if it isn’t sure enough… and learn as it experiences the user’s habits. Until that’s available and affordable, it will be safe to sell devices that have buttons.
Something else that will never be fully developed.