[throwaway_bad]

It will just join the graveyard of gimmicky vr/ar motion controllers.

Leap motion, Kinect, etc. Those can track precise skeletal gestures too.

I think the differentiation here is low power always on and attached to the phone with high field of view.

[landa]

The Kinect caused a huge wave of innovation. It was a convenient and low-cost source of RGBD data, and many robotics labs got a few when it was released.

[0xffff2]

Could you expand on the result of said innovation? Where would I see Kinect driven innovation in everyday life?

[cushychicken]

Much of that technology was improved and miniaturized, and incorporated into the Apple Face ID bar at the top of the iPhone X.

[Judgmentality]

Personally I feel FaceID is a step backwards from fingerprint readers. It doesn't work as often for me (facial hair, hat, lighting, hoodie, and sometimes it's just finnicky) and there are privacy concerns. The fingerprint reader isn't perfect, but for me it was better. I can touch it while pulling the phone out of my pocket and it's unlocked when I open it.

I'm frustrated with Google's choice to copy Apple and remove this feature from the Pixel 4. It's literally the only reason I'm not buying one.

[machello13]

What privacy concerns are there?

[Judgmentality]

I guess it depends on whether or not you consider a 3D scan of your face personal data. As face-tracking becomes more prevalent, I'd say this is the worst thing you could voluntarily give away. Your face can be scanned just walking through a crowd in public, a fingerprint is only usable when you physically touch something (and the digital version is always prompted so you can't be identified in a crowd unexpectedly like you can with a face).

[jdietrich]

Apple bought PrimeSense (the company behind Kinect) for $360m.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PrimeSense

[throwaway_bad]

A lot of early 3d scanners were just repurposed Kinects: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KOUSSlKUJ-A

[mappu]

I know of MSc and PhD work to use the Kinect as a low-cost alignment system for radiotherapy patients.

[throwaway_bad]

I meant that they didn't catch on in the same way say webcams or wireless headphones caught on among consumers.

I have personally built stuff with KinectFusion before so I do know how powerful it is.

[MildlySerious]

Leap killed itself by shutting itself in with proprietary drivers and staying away from any sort of modding.

I ordered one the week it came out, went through quite a bit to get it through customs (for whatever reason) and paid almost twice the retail price because of it, just to be disappointed after the initial hype. Years later I thought I could use it for some stuff with the Pi, just to be disappointed again, as nothing had changed.

Since then I have been looking for replacements and I am really hoping for Soli not to take the same route.