Although i never really liked the idea behind waving and jumping around my room in order to play a game, but the Kinect can have many other uses. So instead of being used to track idiots plodding around their rooms, it can actually do something useful.
Because astronauts tend to lose body due to muscle atrophy (lack of using muscles in space). So astronauts have to exercise 2 hours per day in order to prevent this. The current system to weigh them is cumbersome and uses precious resources.
So now the Kinect can be used to create a 3D model of an astronaut, then using calculations from a statistical model that links weight to body measurements from a database of 28,000 people. It is about 97% accurate, but some would suggest that the micro gravity shifts water around inside the body, which means their density may not match the assumptions.
The system has yet to be tested in space, but it does look good for the future of such devices. I hope to see such things in the future. Although of course without the people who like to jump around their living room with such a device, then i guess we wouldn’t have the connect in the first place.
