Kinect May Have Issues with Dark-Skinned Users

[awood28211]

Low lighting caused my Kinect to fail to identify both me and my girlfriend...to the point that my girlfriend had to go through the Kinect ID twice...once because the room was dim-lit. we are both light skinned and in serious need of beach time. It's definitely not a dark skin/light skin issue... It was a low-light issue... and the fact of the matter is that darker skin in a dark room would just be less contrasty for the camera. Turn on the lights people!

 

[Yuka]

In other words, at the same given light, a dark skin colored person is at disadvantage in face recognition.

Ouch MS, ouch. Why not getting a light sensor + lantern on the KKKinect? xD!

Cheers!

 

[tsnorquist]

Guess the Jersey Shore kids are SOL as well.

 

[plznote]

funny

 

[dekyos]

I've got a fix!

All users who are having issues calibrating Kinect to detect their skin tone should contact MS to get a voucher for a free pair of glasses from Dollar tree:
http/www.dollartree.com/toys-games-activities/dolls-stuffed-animals/funny-face-glasses/210c236p295776/index.pro?cm_mmc=Product+Feeds-_-Google-_-n/a-_-744532

 

[zak_mckraken]

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]KKKinect?[/citation]
[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]You mean like if Michael J Fox bought one and every time his Parkinson's goes off he fudges a game? [/citation]
You're edgy today my friend! I love it!

 

[Guest]

im all for humor but the caliber of the comments are border on ignorance, i believe you lot happily decry the media for portraying the PC crowd as geeky socially inept and eternally virgins, show a bit of class and post some comments that dont rely on ignorance and exaggerated stereotyping

 

[LORD_ORION]

Come on... the real conspiracy is that if you are detected as a non-white, your facial profile is automatically uploaded to a law-enforcement database in anticipation of arresting you for something one day.

 

[bv90andy]

Bill Gates is the new king of 4chan

 

[buzznut]

[citation][nom]the_krasno[/nom]Could be that it was tested prominently on light skinned people: asians and caucasians.[/citation]

This is exactly what I was wondering..

 

[quantum mask]

Wow. Not refering to the article but to the comments. Some of you Americans are STILL racist in 2010. Hiding behind your user name, though. hmmm.

 

[dekyos]

You're assuming all the posters are poking fun at race and not at the flawed technology. Have you considered that some of us might not be Caucasian?

I would love to see if the gag glasses actually made the face rec software trigger on a person it wouldn't otherwise.

 

[bill gates is your daddy]

cue Kayne West........"“Bill Gates doesn't care about black people"

 

[figgus]

[citation][nom]quantum mask[/nom]Wow. Not refering to the article but to the comments. Some of you Americans are STILL racist in 2010. Hiding behind your user name, though. hmmm.[/citation]
Wow... and you're still getting upset by mere words in 2010 too. Interesting. Surely, if you're so enlightened, some simple text on a page wouldn't bother you?

As far as the actual story, I guess it makes sense from a technical point of view. Darker skin would make it harder to see the contrasts in features.

This isn't really any worse than companies selling running shoes even though paralized people can't use them. Not everyone can use every product after all.

 

[descendency]

"Here's what we found: The log-in problem is related to low-level lighting and not directly to players' skin color. Like the HP webcam, the Kinect camera needs enough light and contrast to determine features in a person's face before it can perform software recognition and log someone into the game console automatically.

Essentially, the Kinect recognized both players at light levels typically used in living rooms at night and failed to recognize both players when the lights were turned down lower. So far, we did not experience any instance where one player was recognized and the other wasn't under the same lighting conditions."

Huh? 'light levels typically used in living rooms at night'... meaning lights are off? I never play with the lights on while gaming at night.

 

[alphadark]

Way to spread the BS Tom. Should I now be redirected to cnn or foxnews? *facepalm*

 

[liveonc]

Ku Klux Kinect... ;-)

 

[Guest]

@dekyos
so because your not white you cant be racist.......

@figgus
you just compared having a different color skin to being disabled.......

humorous comments about the tech no probs, humorous comments based upon ignorant stereotyping of a persons skin tone (i'll point to the comment that indicates people who have dark skin tones are more likely to be thieves) yeah real funny.....

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

Well, keep in mind that this is specifically about auto-sign in. In and of itself a useless feature, since my console signs me in automatically when its turned on in the first place. The actual use of it has been stated to be unaffected.

 

[hoof_hearted]

This totally makes sense. Isn't it Bill Gates who tried to sterilize Africa?