As we get older we forget odd things. Like
where we last saw our car keys, the cordless phone or the dog. The cordless
phone will try and let us know if someone calls, we may even have our car keys
connected to a gadget that will squeak if we’re searching, but the dog? Well,
he’s probably gone off with someone more reliable.
But
don’t panic, Nirjon and Stankovic from U of Virginia are rushing to our aid
with a new high tech breakthrough called “Kinsight” (1). The system uses Microsoft’s
Kinect sensors scattered liberally throughout the house and all connected up to
your computer.
The
system follows you around the house and notes where you put a range of your
everyday household objects. Each sensor has a range of a little over 3 meters
so you will need a number of these around.
The
motions sensors in Kinect can recognize a figure so they will track other
people losing things as well as you. Of course, the secret is in the extensive
programing and training the system which things you want to lose and those that
you don’t.
You
will also need to be careful when you install such a system with locations such
as bedrooms and bathrooms. However, the big advantage of this type of system
over having RFID chips in everything is that is ultimately cheaper and simpler.
In addition other people could read your chips when you are wandering out and
about, which is something that you probably would wish to avoid.
I
was champing at the bit because it wasn’t wireless and I could have it as an
app on my iPhone until I realized that I could be totally lost if I forgot
where I put it. One can imagine how the system could be expanded so that we’d
be living in a really helpful house that would note how much and what foods
we’d put in the fridge and warn us when they should be replenished or were
becoming outdated, as well as other useful bits of advice.
- http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~stankovic/psfiles/DCOSS2012.pdf
