The release of the Kinect was a landmark event for businesses, they just don’t know it yet.
Although the device is still relatively new, the marketing implications for Kinect are making themselves loud and clear. Sure, it’s interactive and attention-grabbing, but for some companies, Kinect will go beyond novelty.
The depth camera that powers the Kinect is a technology born out of enterprise, not gaming, and for years these sophisticated pieces of equipment mapped stress fractures in walls and helped solve complex engineering dilemmas.
The difference now is that the affordable Kinect brings these capabilities to the masses, and opens up depth camera functionality to industries where it was cost prohibitive in the past. One Kinect hacker recently applied the device toward helping inform the blind about their surroundings, while another conducted a primitive experiment on using Kinect for Google Street View-style 3D mapping.
Mutual Mobile initially started experimenting with Kinect without any particular end in mind. We realized the device opened up a new interface that hadn’t been available before; one that effectively bridged the gap between reality and virtual reality. Our 3D head-tracking demo, below, is just one of many software hacks we’ve been compiling that can be applied toward clients’ goals.
This sort of head tracking technology spans both the marketing and operations, allowing marketers to turn a store window into an interactive videoport or enabling a mechanic to peer under a virtual hood. We’re hoping to push the limit for Kinect applications and start bringing this innovative technology to forward-thinking businesses.
And if you’re a Kinect hacker who would like to experiment with head tracking, feel free to download the source for the above project:
Download the Kinect Head Tracking Source Code.
