In order for a robot to be a robot (and not simply a toaster or other device), it must do this: React to its environment. Robotic vacuums, for instance, respond to bumping into an object by turning and moving in another direction. The fact that it does makes it seem a tiny bit more like a living thing. Then consider that robots are electrical, and that makes them more like living organisms. And because they display a response to external stimuli — they have basic irritability, you could say –  they’re a bit like living brain cells.

The Kinect — an add-on for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 — helps robots be robotic. The Kinect, which interacts with the person in front of it by bouncing light off him and mapping his position and shape, “knows” where you are and what motions you’re making. (Tiny microphones in the Kinect also help.) While you look at it, it’s looking back at you.

The Kinect is now being used as the optical/guidance system for a robotics kit made by Willow Garage (www.willowgarage.com). They supply the software to use with a Kinect for your robot project.