60-Second Tech

Gaming Tech Might Soon Read Facial Expressions

As gaming tech closes in on the ability to tell players' expressions, can lip-reading artificial intelligence be far behind? Larry Greenemeier reports














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In 2001: A Space Odyssey, astronauts Bowman and Poole conspire to shut down their ship's computer, HAL. They speak out of HAL's earshot. One problem. [HAL]: “Although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.”

Could never happen in our time, right? Well, according to the Eurogamer Web site, the next generation of Microsoft's Kinect gaming technology will bring lip-reading artificial intelligence closer with major improvements in motion sensing and voice recognition.

The gist is that the Kinect 2 will be able to send more information faster to the Xbox gaming console. This has led to speculation that the Kinect 2 will become sensitive enough to be able to read facial expressions and detect emotions based on the tone of a player's voice.

Kinect 2 is supposed to arrive by the end of 2012, the same time as the two new versions of the Xbox. Which means we've got only a year to learn how to play our cards close to the vest in the presence of the gaming system. You never know when Kinect 2 might take offense at being turned off while the humans have dinner.

—Larry Greenemeier

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]  
 


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  1. 1. tyro_SA 10:34 PM 12/1/11

    Haha, I am looking forward kinect 2

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  2. 2. Laird Wilcox 12:21 PM 12/9/11

    This is really great. Now the government can hunt down and kill everyone who looked like they wanted to vomit the last time they saw Newt Gingrich on television, or looked like they didn't believe Obama's state of the union speech while they watched. Well, at least put them on the no-fly list or maybe a vacation at a CIA resort in Uzbekistan where, if the come back, they're never have to worry about their fingernails any more. Isn't technology wonderful. It used to be. At one time.

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