The PrimeSense sensor, better known for its Microsoft implementation named Kinect (for XBox360) has raised a huge interest in among Computer Vision scientists.

This sensor has been primarily devised for hand gesture recognition (e.g. wave, swipe, push, circle, etc.), or the body pose; the very low price (approx. 150€) and the very reliable body/hand analysis have triggered a real success of the product.

Beyond body/hand analysis, the potential applications are many and are basically limited only by creativity. I have personally developed an application product that, through the use of the PrimeSense sensor provides a virtual “touch” sensitivity (similar to a touch screen) to any surface, such as a window shop, a back-projector screen, a painted wall, or even the surface of a liquid; obviously this can be used to make “touch sensitive” even a regular 42″ LCD/LED.

A further application that is ready for product release is the estimation of 3d models on an environment, in order to apply metric measures without intrusive inspections, as demonstrated in this video sample.