Next stop, the Bellagio?

kinectfountainComputer-controlled water fountains are giving an unusual twist to an annual student contest that explores new ways of interacting with computer hardware.

Check out the video above for some of the examples from organizers, showing what’s possible — including using Microsoft Kinect to “shape” a water show in real time using gestures.

The contest, sponsored by Microsoft, is held in conjunction with the Association for Computing Machinery’s User Interface Software and Technology symposium.

Student teams accepted into the contest this year will receive a “PumpSpark Fountain Development Kit,” that includes 8 miniature water pumps and a special controller, making it possible to program the system to shoot water as high as 1 meter in the air. The system supports USB and Arduino interfaces, and students will also get access to Brookshire Software’s Visual Show Automation control package.

In years past, the competition has focused on input devices, but for the fifth year, organizers decided to focus on a unique form of output instead. Microsoft senior researcher Paul Dietz, who developed the PumpSpark FDK, is eager to see what the student teams come up with.

“It’s going to be awesome,” he predicts.

Students from high school to grad school can apply to take part. Organizers are asking teams to submit a 100-word description of their idea along with a link to a picture, drawing or sketch of their proposed project. A maximum of 30 teams will be accepted. Microsoft is putting up a bunch of Surface RTs as prizes for the winners.

Deadline for registering for the student contest is Aug. 11, and teams accepted into the program will receive their “FDKs” later this month. More details on the official contest page.

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