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A piece of duct tape over a camera lens can take care of the problem of being snooped on by spies. Governments and militaries are using Kinect, but the projects involved are much more interesting than simple data collection. A price point that low makes it one of the most cost-effective pieces of motion capture and recording equipment on the market.
Microsoft put a lot of time, effort and money into getting the military to think about Kinect as a viable solution to a lot of problems.
Since then, different companies have created a lot of different systems. Everything from a better way to signal airplane pilots during takeoff to using Kinect-based heads-up displays in helicopters. In January, the Army put out the word that it was looking for new technologies to help train soldiers.
How does it work? Soldiers stand in a ring surrounded by Kinect sensors placed in front of flat walls covered in projected images.
In action, it looks like the user is dropped into the middle of a video game. To solve the problem, the students mounted a Kinect onto a drone and sent it flying around a room. The drone was able to map its surroundings and navigate effectively. Researchers at North Carolina State University are doing the same thing with cockroaches.
The researchers placed small sensors on cockroaches and gave them a predetermined path to follow. A Kinect follows their progress and gives the bugs a little jolt when they get out of line. Robots are expensive, but roaches are cheap and easy to power.
If troops need to peek into a building, all they need do is unleash the swarm and direct it towards a target. No one pays much attention to a roach hiding in the dark. About a year ago, a cadet at the U. Naval Academy repurposed a Kinect as a robotic object-detection system.
A few months later, South Korea took the idea of using Kinect for object detection and implemented it. Until recently, South Korea used an expensive heat-based technology that had trouble distinguishing between humans and animals. The military is also doing some positive experiments with Kinect.
They allow us unprecedented, instant communication with colleagues, friends and loved ones. These are liberating tools that allow for surprisingly human contact as the Yahoo story shows , and we are better off for them.
Communications technology is like a window in your house. It lets the sun in.
It also lets people passing by look inside your home. Nine other stinky attractions Vancouverites would pay to smell. Go ahead Vancouver, name a city councillor who brings value to the job.
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