Bekka Kitila IT 103
| Home | Introduction | Background | Technical Specifications | Potential Benefits | Security Concerns | Ethical and Legal Issues | Social Benefits and Problems | Conclusion | Reference page |
According to Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s Chief Research and Strategy Officer, states that the Kinect is a “natural user interface” that, along with voice, will redefine the future of computers. Increasingly autonomous computers, Mundie suggests, the Kinect will complete tasks that humans will think too mundane. For now as Americans we control day to day activities, we get assistance from electronics or minor gadgets that help our everyday life. Microsoft believes that possibly with their invention, that over time the right scientist will in turn give it the technology to do our every day job. Another potential benefit that scientists and students have come to believe is that it can help with avoidance crash collision and robots. Bouffard, 33, is a graduate student working on ways to help computer-guided vehicles avoid collisions.
Based on an article written by Casey Newton, she states that Bouffard was able to attach a Kinect to a 4 pound helicopter and could perceive objects in its path. The “quadrotor” was able to detect an object in front of it and stop in mid air. This invention alone could be a gateway to a safer America in my beliefs, if we are able to take a new accessory for a console and can make it into a helicopter avoidance machine, think of the possibilities of America’s technology. The thing is if a graduate student can do this easily without Microsoft’s consent, then this also opens up a path for other people to use this technology the wrong way. Now with all great things come setbacks that cause it not to be great yet. The wrong way leads to social and ethical issues of this accessory as well as the security concerns for the Kinect.