Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a motion-tracking device, which they call the "Kinect of the future." It can follow a person even when in another room, pinpointing his or her location with extreme accuracy, using only radio waves. (Kinect is the Xbox 360's motion sensor.)
The device tracks a single person with an accuracy of plus or minus 10 centimeters — about the size of an adult hand. Apart from the ability to "see" through a wall, its main advantage is that the person being tracked isn't required to wear a transmitter. While other location systems depend on Wi-Fi, this device can track a person's movements within the radius of its radio waves.
"What we're doing here is localization through a wall without requiring you to hold any transmitter or receiver [and] simply by using reflections off a human body," MIT researcher Fadel Adib told IDG News Service. "What is impressive is that our accuracy is higher than even state of the art Wi-Fi localization."
MIT researchers have a patent pending for the technology, which could have multiple applications. In addition to gaming, such a device could be used to turn lights on and off as somebody approaches a room, or track patients in need of supervision. However, it could also lend itself to more invasive applications, such as tracking people in a mall.
For now, the device as several limitations: It takes up a lot of space, is only able to detect the movement of one person, and can't distinguish between people or objects moving in its radius.
To find out more about MIT's futuristic device, watch the video.
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