Tongue Controlled Video Game Using Kinect

I’ll admit that I like to play video games and have done so since my Atari 2600. Playing video games gives a chance to escape to a different place and can be an exercise for the mind. In moderation! People with disabilities that are not able to use a hand held controller should also be able to enjoy video games like everyone else. Many experimental devices have been designed where the user can control games with their breath, eye movement, and even thoughts. Researches from the The University of Electro-Communications in Japan have now developed technology where a video game can be played with tongue movements utilizing Kinect.

Alright so you won’t be playing Call of Duty or even Tetris with this technology but this is still pretty cool. The game is a stationary shooter where the player controls a “gun” at the center of the screen that rotates and shoots circles at the top of the screen. Moving their tongue left or right, the player points the gun at the circles. Kinect finds the tongue by first detecting the face and eye locations. Based on that information the software then determines the location of the nose and tongue.

This technology was actually developed to help develop mouth and tongue muscles in rehabilitation. For example a person who had a stroke may need to redevelop muscles for speaking and swallowing. Although quadriplegics or people with weakened arms and hands could also play video games with this technology. In the future the researchers hope to incorporate lip movement into the games to develop more muscles. With this technology and others, hopefully we can get closer to where anyone can play any video game. In moderation!