Project Natal

Project Natal is a research project carried out by Microsoft to develop digital input device mainly for their product Xbox. The specialty in project natal is it’s not an ordinary input device which you have to press buttons and swing joy sticks. Using the Natal sensor you can control the game which you are playing without having any physical contact with the controller. It detects your body motions and voice to control the applications. This is an innovative concept to the gaming world, so every one’s eyes were focused to Project Natal recently.

The code name ‘Natal’ is a Brazilian city which showing Microsoft naming culture. The project coordinator Alex Kipman was from Brazil and it his choice to use this name. The first announcement of project natal was made on June 1st, 2009 by Microsoft at Los Angeles Convention Center. There was various promotional videos was launched and they got huge numbers of hits in YouTube. The commercial release of the produced to the market is unofficially schedules on October 2010 and the expected price would be around USD 150.

Technology

The Natal sensor contains three sensors which are RGB camera, Infrared depth sensor and multi array microphone. The RGB camera will be used to capture the 2D image and motions in front of the sensor along with the color details of it. The IR depth sensor will be used to capture the distance variations from the sensor to the users. The multi array microphone will be used to capture the voice and the direction of it. Combining all the above factors the Natal sensor can determine the full body motion of the user. In order to do that there must be complex image and voice processing algorithms. The full body motions will be digitally transfer in to controlling signals and will be send to the Game console Xbox.

However there are various arguments about the practicality of this technology. Theoretically the above process is justifiable. But in the real gaming environment, especially in multiplayer games things can go wrong easily with the multiple movement. Furthermore some demonstrations in promotional videos seem not real and practical including the speed, response time and feedback. Many people believe that it’s not the real functionality, but a promotional staged act. As an answer to these arguments the Microsoft has released live demo of Project Natal which can be found on YouTube.

Applications

Gaming Controller

The primary application of project natal is as a Gaming controller. This extends the boundaries of gaming in to new dimension. With the Natal sensor the gamer can interact with the Gaming environment as he is actually living inside that. As long as it captures the full body motions without any gadget attached in to the body, the games will be free to express his self with the body motions and voice commands very precisely. Probably this will help Microsoft it increase their sales exponentially and expand their gaming empire.

Artificial Intelligence Application Interfacing

The development of artificial intelligent application is facing huge challenge that there are no proper input devices to interact with them. No matter how much the researchers develop the software, to make it ‘looks like human’ there has to be next generation input device which can understand human voice and activities. Project Natal provides perfect solution for these applications interfacing. There is a popular video found on YouTube which demonstrate this AI interfacing with Natal sensor for the Character ‘Milo’.

3D Graphic Designing

Project Natal will provide good support for 3D graphic designing industry. The current challenge is to model the Object correctly. The traditional controllers including keyboard and mouse don’t provide much support for that. Even when it comes to Laser scanning the process is complex and takes lots of time. The natal sensor will provide accurate interface for the artists to design 3D models without touching any controller, simply by their body motions.

When it comes to the motions capturing project natal can provide perfect solutions there as well. This is one of the major challenges faced by the film industry to capture the accurate human emotions and put it in to a 3D model. In addition to that the sensor can capture the voice too. This kind of emotion capturing process would provide a relaxed environment to the actor to give his best performance without getting attached to so many sensors.

Automated Customer Relation Management

This might sound like a crazy idea but the natal sensor could be used to automated and improved customer relationship management. At the door step of a costume store they can place a natal sensor and connect it to a computer which is having huge Plasma screen in front of that. Once the customer step in the natal sensor can capture that and automatically suggest some costumes which are suitable with an aid of AI character like ‘Milo’. Furthermore it can generate a 3D image of customer and show a demonstration of suggested costume as well. If technology manages to implement this, it will be the next generation of customer relations.

Military Applications

Another possible application of Natal sensor is to control advance military applications. The modern unmanned military aircrafts are controlled by Joystick from a ground base. However with the improvement of other implications, it’s asking for better and advanced controller where the project Natal might give a solution. In addition to that this can be used to control unmanned war robots. Finally let’s hope no one will ever use these things against Humans, but some kind of Alien invasion may be.

Future Development

Apparently the technology in project natal in something no one ever dreamed of. But still there can be improvements to be made. The most important factor would be the accuracy. That matters a lot in gaming environment to deliver an extraordinary gaming experience to the user. The usability of hardware seems good since you can easily place it on top of your TV. The next most important factor would be the identification of multiple movements, especially in multiplayer environments. Though it started as a gaming controller, there is a huge possibility to use it for many other applications as mentioned above. Let’s have a curious mind about this path breaking hardware by Microsoft.

References

• Hruschak, P. (2009, June). E3 2009: Microsoft wants to make you the controller with Project Natal. Retrieved May 2010, from gamertell.com: http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-microsoft-wants-to-make-you-the-controller-with-project-natal/