Kinect system tracks you with an eye on your shoes

STARING at customers' shoes as they walk into shops may be the next job for Microsoft's Kinect gaming sensor. Using the system to count shoppers and track their movements through stores could provide a helpful marketing tool - without the privacy invasion of analysing CCTV images.

The idea comes from Stephan Richter and colleagues at the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany, who were working on a way to help software distinguish people gathered round large tabletop touchscreen computers. The computer tends to struggle to keep track of who is doing what if people move around the screen while working.

The team developed a system called Bootstrapper which works out who's standing where using a downward-facing Kinect camera to recognise their shoes. By measuring how a shoe distorts the infrared grid projected by Kinect's depth camera, Bootstrapper acquires unique, high-resolution 3D images of each person's footwear. Early tests show the system has an accuracy of 96 per cent. The team will present their work at the Computer Human Interaction conference in Austin, Texas, in May.

Team member Patrick Baudisch, also at the Hasso Plattner Institute, says that the system could allow Kinect cameras mounted near to floor level to count the number of customers entering a shop, as well as determine which products they are most attracted to. The idea has promise, says a spokeswoman at shopping behaviour analyst Synovate Retail Performance, based in Milton Keynes, UK.

"If Bootstrapper could differentiate by shoe size it could avoid the counting of children, who are not seen as retail opportunities," she says.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

Have your say

Only subscribers may leave comments on this article. Please log in.

Only personal subscribers may leave comments on this article

Subscribe now to comment.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/1b9ea5ae/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg213284660B60A0A0Ekinect0Esystem0Etracks0Eyou0Ewith0Ean0Eeye0Eon0Eyour0Eshoes0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

percy harvin best cyber monday deals