Using the X-Box Kinect as a sensor to conduct centrifuge research

To gaming enthusiasts, the Kinect is Microsoft's motion sensor add-on for the Xbox 360 gaming console. The device provides a natural user interface that allows users to interact intuitively and without any intermediary device, such as a controller. Now, a team of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers have used the device to replace expensive sensors on its geotechnical centrifuge to better (and more economically) understand how levees fail when overtopped by large floods. The interdiscipl