Kinect at the Grocery Store

In addition to posting about our NUI/CDR project I want to use this blog to share other innovative uses of the Kinect hardware. Here's a video demonstrating some Kinect technology being used with a grocery cart, apparently Whole Foods is testing this prototype:

The system will recognize a user's frequent shopper card to identify them, it then gives the option to load a shopping list, follows the shopper automatically, and then scans items as they are placed in the cart.

Hardware and Systems at the Center for Design Research

On Saturday 2/25/2012 we stopped over at the CDR to take some photos of the current system. Much of the energy data is communicated through varying software platforms on a large touch-screen display located near the lobby/entry area. Some things like the lights and windows are omitted from the touch-screen system and are connected to their own separate controls, my understanding is that even though they do not interface through the touchscreen they still send data to the backbone PC. This lack of consistency makes simple tasks confusing and gives the system integration an unfinished feel. While it's impressive that this building exists with all this great technology and it's certainly efficient, there's a significant usability gap we are hoping to close to provide an enjoyable user experience.

Welcome to the NUI Blog!

This blog is to document our graduate design work at the University of Kansas (KU) relating to Natural User Interfaces (NUI). The actual timeline of the class will run for the Spring 2012 semester, but chances are this may turn into a thesis or extended project that spans far beyond that. Our immediate task is to fearlessly dive into this and share our progress here.