Kinect Body Tracking Camera System To Calculate Weight In Zero Gravity

Microsoft Kinect, the motion sensing input device, is being used worldwide for different kinds of tasks. Right from #-Link-Snipped-# to playing the#-Link-Snipped-#, the uses of Kinect are going to multiply rapidly with the ongoing research. Now, a computer scientist from Eurecom, France, Mr. Carmelo Velardo and his colleagues at the Italian Institute of Technology's Center for Human Space Robotics in Torino has developed a system using the Kinect sensors to help Astronauts calculate their weight in spacecrafts.



Once in space, calculating weight of a body is not an easy task. In the space missions, astronauts have to work out for a minimum of 2 hours a day to prevent wasting away of body tissues occurring from lack of use and their weights need to be monitored so as to make sure that the health is not deteriorating. So, Velardo and his team has created a 3D model of an astronaut using the Kinect's depth sensors and then used their calculations to create a statistical model to link weight to body measurements. This is based on a 28,000 people database. This system is smaller and more energy efficient than the one used currently in the International Space Station. In fact, Velardo says, "Something that you could easily put inside the walls of the space station would free up the space for other equipment or experiments." The team estimates that the results have been accurate up to 97%.

Velardo thinks that if his idea is combined with the currently used weighing system, it would provide greater insights into the changes in body density of the astronauts in space. We will get to know more about this next month, once he presents his research at the Emerging Signal Processing Applications conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since the cost of launching new equipment in space is quite high, how this system performs in actual space is yet to be tested. The tests will be soon performed in simulated microgravity environment.

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