Post: Microsoft Kinect has problems recognizing the faces of dark skinned users
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11-06-2010, 08:09 AM
#1
PaddyB
PaddyS System-Link
Originally posted by another user
One common message in Microsoft’s $500 million advertising push for their Kinect motion-control accessory for the Xbox 360 is the idea that the Kinect is an inclusive device meant to bring friends and families together. Someone should tell the Kinect’s facial-recognition software that, though, because it anecdotally appears to have a reluctance to accurately track black people.
According to Gamespot, while testing the Kinect, two of their darker-skinned employees couldn’t accurately get the system’s facial recognition to work. In fact, one of the employees simply couldn’t have his face recognized by the Kinect at all.
It’s easy to make a big stink about this, but in actuality, this is a problem with facial recognition technology: it requires a lot of differences in contrast to work properly, and darker skinned individuals can often puzzle cameras because there’s necessarily less contrast in their face.
Consider last year’s “HP Media Smart Is Racist” story. It’s basically the same thing with the Kinect, and can be solved the same way: dark skinned users will need to make sure to illuminate their faces more than lighter skinned users.
There’s a lot of problems with the Kinect, including laggy controls, sporadic voice recognition and limited field of view. Thankfully, though, racism isn’t one of them.
According to Gamespot, while testing the Kinect, two of their darker-skinned employees couldn’t accurately get the system’s facial recognition to work. In fact, one of the employees simply couldn’t have his face recognized by the Kinect at all.
It’s easy to make a big stink about this, but in actuality, this is a problem with facial recognition technology: it requires a lot of differences in contrast to work properly, and darker skinned individuals can often puzzle cameras because there’s necessarily less contrast in their face.
Consider last year’s “HP Media Smart Is Racist” story. It’s basically the same thing with the Kinect, and can be solved the same way: dark skinned users will need to make sure to illuminate their faces more than lighter skinned users.
There’s a lot of problems with the Kinect, including laggy controls, sporadic voice recognition and limited field of view. Thankfully, though, racism isn’t one of them.
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