Published in News

South Korea uses Kinect to monitor the North

by on04 February 2014


 
Arm waving all the way

The South Korean government is using Microsoft’s Kinect motion-based game controller to monitor the heavily guarded DMZ (Demilitarized Zone).

Freelance South Korean developer Jae Kwan Ko has developed the system so it can tell the difference between people and animals. Currently infrared systems in use along the DMZ, have a harder time determining whether a moving object is human and should be shot, or a fluffy bunny, which should be cuddled.

The Kinect-based system can send alerts of suspicious activity to the nearest military outpost. While the South Korean government reportedly installed the hardware at select portions of the DMZ last year, news about it is only emerging now. Despite that secrecy, the South Korean government is playing up Jae Kwan Ko’s contributions, highlighting him in the local media as an example of innovation and creative drive.

Microsoft originally intended the Kinect controller as a way to play Xbox 360 games via body movements and voice control

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