Microsoft partners on motion controllers

The University of Melbourne and the Victoria Government is partnering with tech conglomerate Microsoft on developing the next generation of motion-led interactive technologies.

The three entities will open an $8m research centre for the technologies, known as Natural User Interfaces (NUIs), already deployed by Microsoft through its gaming peripheral Kinect and other gaming hardware manufacturers.

Microsoft Centre for Social NUI Research plans to further develop the thinking behind the Kinect, which gamers use to interact with the Xbox gaming console through movement and voice control, by further enhancing recognition of movement and voice as well as exploring touch and brain recognition technologies which could potentially be incorporated.

Technologies developed by the centre will have a clear view to market out of the Melbourne research facility and into Microsoft’s gaming sector, as well as potential uses for user interact with its other products, such as graphical user interface programme Windows.

Professor Frank Vetere, director at the centre, suggested there would be other applications too. He said: “The recent explosion of social media shows the extraordinary human desire to use technology for our own personal needs and interaction, so there is definitely a growing role for social NUIs. The centre is not just about the fun stuff like Facebook. It’s also the way we’re social in the workplace, in schools, in hospitals, and how we relate in public spaces.”

Tony Hey, vice president of research at Microsoft, added: “This is a world class research centre, located at a world class university in a forward thinking state. I am confident the centre will open the floodgates to innovative social uses of NUI. The potential for social NUI will only be limited by our imagination.”