Kinect 2 could detect emotions

The future Kinect 2, the movement sensor of the Xbox console, will be able to detect the player's emotions. The development will make it possible to read lips, the direction of the eyes and evaluate mood by detecting tone of voice and facial features. Kinect was launched in 2010 with limited image analysis capacity (30 frames per second) because the console, which must perform several simultaneous tasks, could not absorb more information. But the success of the sensor has led Microsoft to consider uses beyond the game console in addition to thinking about a new console that takes advantage of the potential of Kinect.

In fact, Microsoft has encouraged developers to unlock Kinect for other types of uses. Héctor Martín Cantero, a 20-year-old Cantabrian, won $3.000 (2.200 euros) in a contest for being the first to publish the program that opens the sensor lock and can be used on a computer. Future versions of the Windows operating system could be prepared for use on computers that would go beyond voice recognition. A future Kinect application on televisions has also been published to facilitate interactive use of them.

Microsoft itself proposes other uses. The company has filed a patent to track an employee's activity that would require Kinect technology to evaluate his or her gestural behavior. If the Human Resources department establishes behavioral parameters, the system can compare them with what the employee actually has. In the patent documentation it is argued that it is about promoting the behaviors established by the company, which can lead to greater confidence from bosses and salary increases for the happiness of the employee. Microsoft has denied that this patent is intended to be a tool for spying on employee activity and insists that it would be used to better adjust their behavioral parameters to those set by the company.