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Longboard Made Awesome With Windows 8 Tablet & Kinect

- By - Source : Tom's Guide US

Do you find Segways a little boring? Then you need to check out this gesture-controlled longboard.

Patrolling the show floor of CES can be a bit of a grind. You go from booth to booth in search of the next cool thing – but we were surprised when the next cool thing rolled by us.

From the creative minds at mobile applications developer Chaotic Moon comes this modified longboard that's kitted out with a Kinect, a Windows 8 preview build tablet, GoPro cameras, and more. This device doesn't just look mean, though, it will get you places too, with a top speed of 32 mph and a range of around 10 miles with a 200 lbs rider.

Check out a systems walkthrough courtesy of the engineer, Philip Wheat, behind the prototype:

 

Windows 8 Kinect Longboard

 

Windows 8 Kinect Longboard

And to see it in action on the streets of Austin, TX this is a man dubbed "whurley" riding it:

Chaotic Moon Labs' Board of Awesomeness

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fyasko 01/12/2012 12:33 PM
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as someone who skates, it's difficult to "hold a pose" in order to move effectively. body movement and shifting of one's weight is critical when skating, i don't see how using this thing would be fun. also one puddle or "accident" and your kinect board is toast.

nesto1000 01/12/2012 12:37 PM
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This looks pretty neat, I like.

Also has anyone noticed at the end of the last video, Chaotic Moon's logo?

Quote :CM.Labs
We're Smarter Than You

I just thought that I'd point that out.

JohnnyLucky 01/12/2012 1:29 AM
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Looks like fun!

archange 01/12/2012 10:23 AM
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Ohh, crap, I stepped on the tab...

endif 01/12/2012 4:48 PM
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CM.Labs
We're Smarter Than You

If so, why did you put the fragile tablet where my feet goes?

freggo 01/12/2012 8:08 PM
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10 miles on that in city traffic ?
Doing it on a bicycle is a -sometimes risky- challenge here in Florida.
This board, as cool as the idea it, sure would be asking for trouble even on a sidewalk.

Still, I'd love to give it a try :-)

philwheat 01/15/2012 4:38 AM
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Guys,
Phil here - the person in the first two videos. Basically this is a tech demonstrator we put together to see where the edges of the components are. Kinect (sunlight, motion, power), tablet (vibration, environment, battery life), Phidgets board, and our custom hardware components. Everyone always takes things into the lab to "test" them in controlled environments - we thought we'd take them into the real world and see what really happens (and have some fun as well.) As you may have see in other videos - we at the CM Labs group do two types of projects - the Why and the Wow. This is the Why side "Why would you do that" - look for the "Wow, now I see where you were headed" side very soon (Soon = weeks).

And Nesto1000 - check our web site (specifically our Labs page.) I think you'll find our sense of propriety appropriate. I mean, we haven't even started work on the rocket assist escape boosters for our Zombie proof bunker yet. (Not to imply we won't finish before we really need them!)

philwheat 01/15/2012 5:01 AM
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fyasko - I'm not a skater myself (I'm the hardware/software side of our team) but I can say that whurley looks like he LOVES riding it. He keeps trying to ride off with it after our shoots and we have to make sure he brings it back to show to other people!