Kinect Hack Lets You Use Your Friends' Body Like A Puppet

A few months ago, artist Chris O'Shea introduced the world to his Kinect-fueled air guitar. O'Shea hasn't stopped tinkering with the device, and he's recently shown off a few of his latest projects.

His Body Swap installation is pretty neat, allowing two people to temporarily shed their skins and take on their friends' bodies. Here's how O'Shea explains it:

Two people stand in front of the screen, are captured by the camera and turned into paper cut-out versions of themselves. The images are then swapped, so that you each take control of the other. The aesthetic is of a low polygon 90′s video game. Music plays and prompts you to act out to the audience and each other.

It's a pretty crude-looking effect, but it looks as though the people playing around with it are having a great time. What kid wouldn't want to move their parents around like puppets, anyway?

[View:http://vimeo.com/20745353:610:343]

He's also created something he calls Little Magic Stories, which lets kids act out their own scripted stories through holographic projection.

[View:http://vimeo.com/20196781:610:343]

It's nice to see that people are continuing to experiment with the technology. At least it's keeping folks busy until Microsoft gets around to releasing some actual games for the thing.