It was bound to happen sooner or later and it looks like it's happening sooner rather than later: enforcement agencies now have an opportunity to utilize Microsoft's Xbox Kinect for procedural police training. Yes, that is correct. You can now use Kinect to train in baton beating, breaching and entering, and tazing someone in the water.
IGN posted the promotional training video called MILO Range for the Windows version of Kinect. You can check out the promo video below.
The training program is designed to help police officers engage and contain a situation in the most effective ways possible.
As showcased in the video above, the police will practice using the baton, spray, tasers, guns, and even flashlights in low-light scenarios.
It reminds me of those old full-motion video arcade simulators from way back in the day. They were quite popular during the 1990s – you know, games like Konami's Lethal Enforcers, the 3DO's Crime Patrol or Mad Dog McCree, the latter of which had a real-life gun and holster for players to use while partaking in the quick-draw segments. These games were designed to have one of two outcomes: you either won the segment or failed. There was usually a slight delay in the FMV sequencing that allowed you to get the upper hand against the CPU. I wonder if the MILO Range will suffer from the same problem?
Some of you are probably stuck on the name “Milo”, which many of you might remember as part of Microsoft and Peter Molyneux's groundbreaking tech demo for Kinect back when it was known as “Project Natal”.
During the demonstration, Milo was able to talk and interact with the user while also engaging in activities that bridged the real physical world with the simulated virtual world. Unfortunately, the Xbox 360 wasn't quite up to par to handle that level of processing and Molyneux's Milo project was shelved.
As mentioned on the MILO Range website...
“MILO Range with Kinect for Windows can provide real-time point-of view (POV) adjustments to the scenario and graphics field of view based on trainee movement and position. This interactive, motion-based feature provides innovative training experiences for many tactical applications including corner clearing training, defensive tactics and cover as well as CQM and CQB exercises.”
Kinect for Windows is available right now and so is the MILO Range software package for various levels of interactivity.
There's no easily accessible pricing that I can spot on the MILO Range website, so if you're interested in utilizing the products for actual training you'll have to contact the company about the details.
I guess this is a pretty big step up from all the other training simulators out there that relied on keyboard and mouse devices for interactivity. Now police training has elevated to full-body interactivity.
You can learn more about the Kinect-powered MILO Range products by paying a visit to the official website.
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