Soon after Microsoft released the Kinect gaming device, hackers found a way to pull raw data out of the system, radically expanding its potential uses. Enthusiasts have used the hardware to draw 3-D doodles in the air with hand movements, to play with virtual onscreen characters, and allow a robot to recognize gestures and map its surroundings. One trouble is that unlike using a mouse, keyboard, or touch screen, there is no widely recognized (or naturally intuitive) vocabulary for gestural computing. Microsoft has developed a small number of gestures to let Kinect users navigate menus and browse media on the Xbox. "The keyboard and the mouse aren't going anywhere, but there is a lot of space for something more, and I think people are ready for that," Fritz says. One solution could be to use light projectors to create virtual objects in real space that we can interact with. Microsoft Research has already taken steps in this direction with Mobile Surface, a projector-based multitouch environment.
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