Kinect?

[Madfish]

Originally Posted by MACADEMIC

I wonder if Kinect could be made to work with a cockpit in this way that you would have the real cockpit environment, i.e. correct dimensions, controls, levers etc. All these things would also be in the correct position, and would be working, i.e. would not need to rely on Kinect for them to work, but Kinect would detect your hands/arms position and show you these through an the HMD you're wearing.

So the cockpit would not need to have any (working) instruments in it, and not need to look real, it would be only there for functionality, haptic feedback and dimensional feel. All the visuals would be purely virtual.

Of course, this would require Kinect to be able to track arm/hands/finger(?) positions precisely enough, and the visual generator to show positions and movements in (experienced) real time. Plus, a lightweight high quality HMD with 1:1 headtracking (again, in experienced realtime).

Would anyone with experience with Kinect and HMDs care to comment?

MAC

That'd work - but do consider that you'd still need a completely adjustable framework or a huge number of pits to have this effect and be able to fly all the different planes due to different measurements and designs.
While it may be possible for some it definately out of the question for the average flyer. You'd literally need a half a house to fly all the planes from IL-2 1946 e.g. and then add all the oldtimers from RoF and modern jets and you get the idea why it'd be hard.
If you fly one fav sim for years though it might be worth thinking about it.

By the way, you'd need 2 kinect to be able to fully detect everything. It's under research and we'll see device that either have the full functionality in a few years for sure.
Check the microsoft research on this. They have a lot coming for the age "after" touch.
Few ideas here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0KM8lzRCoQ

just follow the trail.

Right now I'd say it's doable but really hard work. I'd wait until kinect is refined or the next generation pops.