At Seattle’s Decibel Festival this week, Microsoft showcased The Cube, an "interactive art installation" powered by five computers and four Kinects working in concert.
"The Cube is a canvas for a new kind of creative expression," said Michael Megalli, senior director of brand strategy at Microsoft. "It’s an appliance that creates public space."
Participants stand in front of the giant structure and the Cube reacts, pulsating to music and tracing the movements of those around it. The Kinects can read up to three people on each side, and users can see each other through the Cube.
Microsoft sees the cube as an example of the company's new culture under Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella "where hacking is encouraged and the creative coding community is welcomed into the fold."
After finding LCD screens to be too fragile and expensive, the team at Microsoft worked with WorldStage, an event technology company based in New York and Southern California, to design the prototypes and the final Cube with custom-fabricated screens made from projection material and clear acrylic, instead of using LCD displays. As a plus, this allowed the cube to have seamless corners with minimal optical distortion.
