Skip to content


Use the Microsoft Kinect with Greenfoot

Those of you who know Greenfoot know that one of its aims is to make programming for beginners exciting and engaging. (Those of my readers who don’t know it should have a look here.)

The most recent addition to Greenfoot is a library that allows programmers to easily use the Microsoft Kinect module with their Greenfoot scenarios. This means that you can now write simple Greenfoot games that are controlled by players body movements.

Probably the easiest way to show what I mean, is to show you what I mean. Here’s a short video:

Programming the Kinect with Greenfoot is probably the easiest way to write programs with the Kinect module. Neil Brown, one of our developers on the Greenfoot team, has adapted open source server software that communicates with the Kinect and designed and implemented a Greenfoot library that makes access surprisingly simple.

If you are interested to try it yourself — here are the detailed instructions. But beware: you might stand in the middle of your room waving your arms around for the next few days! Some people might look at you strangely, but it’s great fun.

Report post

Posted in Greenfoot, Java, Teaching.

Tagged with , .


7 Responses

Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.

  1. Taylor says

    That looks sweet! If I only had a kinect.

    Report comment

  2. Damien Jorgensen says

    Thanks for providing the link to the detailed instructions, really interesting. Lots of fund just had! Tar

    Report comment

  3. bank kredyt samochodowy says

    I want getting over a damaged coronary heart can be so easy as following a couple of steps.. but its not…

    Report comment

  4. ECU Reapirs Cardiff says

    Wish i had a Kinect! Agree with Taylor, this is awesome to be fair!

    Report comment

Continuing the Discussion

  1. Millions more to benefit from Greenfoot « Computing Education Blog linked to this post on April 5, 2011

    [...] and am glad to hear that they’re providing more support for teachers.  They just announced support for using Microsoft Kinect with Greenfoot, demoed at SIGCSE 2011. Millions of young people are expected to benefit from a University of [...]

    Report comment

  2. Interesting Reading #721 – Android destroying everyone, Ritalin boosts learning, Liquid 3D printer, Ford’s chocolate plastic and much more! – The Blogs at HowStuffWorks linked to this post on April 6, 2011

    [...] Use the Microsoft Kinect with Greenfoot – “The most recent addition to Greenfoot is a library that allows programmers to easily use the Microsoft Kinect module with their Greenfoot scenarios. This means that you can now write simple Greenfoot games that are controlled by players body movements….” [...]

    Report comment

  3. Devoxx 2012 impressions « trying to solve IT problems linked to this post on November 19, 2012

    [...] useful small applications. There is also an interesting integration with the Kinect as can also be seen here. It can be used to build games, for simulations etc. The environment allows you to upload your [...]

    Report comment



Some HTML is OK

or, reply to this post via trackback.



Protected by Akismet. Blog with WordPress.
The views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of the University of Kent. Conditions of Use and Guidelines