The Kinect peripheral for Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console is capable of accomplishing a lot of tasks, motion sensing being a major task in itself. This technology has been leveraged by Jae Kwan Ko, a self-taught coder who has set up a surveillance system based on Kinect at the demilitarized zone or DMZ between the borders of North and South Korea.
Kotaku reports that surveillance system is essentially a guard on border duty. Its able to identify living things that try to cross the border, and its competent enough to distinguish between humans and animals. If the system detects that a human is trying to cross the border, it sends a notification to the relevant authorities. Speaking with Hankooki, Ko said that he never though this system would perform “national defense tasks.” The site also claims that this system is set to be upgraded in the near future, with the ability to detect heartbeats, something which the Xbox One Kinect can very well do. Obviously South Korea hasn’t replaced all border guards along the DMZ with Kinect units, humans will stand guards at all times just like before. This is an interesting concept to say the least, a glimpse into how seemingly normal gadgets can perform such monumental tasks.