In partial fulfilment of the requirement for his degree in Enterprise Computing, a Sheffield University (Sheffield, UK) student has created a controller-less air guitar with the aid of a Microsoft Kinect sensor.

The system Sina Shamshiri developed uses the Kinect sensor to track the position of the left hand on the fretboard while detecting the strum gesture with the right hand. A sound generator synchronised with the gesture recognition system then produces the correct sound at the right time.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the system, 37 individuals consisting of 17 guitarists and 20 non-guitarists were surveyed. Surprisingly, guitarists in the group gave the system higher ratings than non-guitarists.

Shamshiri's final dissertation on the subject that details the challenges he faced in the development of the controller can be found here.

Shamshiri himself is now studying for a PhD in the verification and testing group at the university.

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-- Dave Wilson, Senior Editor, Vision Systems Design