Microsoft Kinect hacked to control surgical robot
The Xbox 360 Kinect unit, which is designed to allow human motion to control on-screen games, has been hacked many times since the system appeared last year, much to Microsoft's public annoyance. This time, it has now been hacked to control a surgical robot.
A group of graduate students at the University of Washington have modified the firmware and software of the Kinect to guide the actions of surgical robots.
The technology is still in its embryonic stages, but according to the Kotaku newswire, early reports are positive. "For robotics-assisted surgeries, the surgeon has no sense of touch right now", Howard Chizeck, the university's professor of electrical engineering told the newswire.
