The Vera avatar, left, guides joint replacement patients in virtual rehab program
The news from Fast Company that Microsoft has ceased manufacturing Kinect, a device developed for its gaming console XBox 360 in 2010, will have an effect on several digital health companies that have integrated Kinect. The device created a new way of tracking people in 3D space.
Reflexion Health is one of those businesses that has used Kinect. In an email, CEO Dr. Joe Smith said although the company’s initial configurations used Kinect, he did not expect the move to have a negative impact on his business.
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“Microsoft has been good at keeping us aware of their plans as well as bulk buying
opportunities to assure there will be no impact to our growth,” he said. “There are now a multitude of depth cameras on the market, and even more in development, many with form factors and performance characteristics that lend themselves better to our specific applications.”
He credited Microsoft with providing an effective and low-cost tool that allowed his business to jump-start a transformation in physical medicine and rehabilitation.
The Fast Company article noted that Kinect demonstrated that companies could develop inexpensive depth cameras and helped advance the development of applications using depth sensing.
GestSure used Microsoft Kinect to enable a sterile interface in the operating room. In an interview with MobiHealthNews, CEO Jamie Tremaine said it will not really affect the business because it would make use of other depth sensors in the market.
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“While the Kinect One (aka Kinect v2) is the best commodity Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor on the market and the technology is generally superior to structured light solutions, structured light solutions are sufficiently competitive. The other major applications are scanning, and rehabilitation. Both of which are sufficiently well-served by competing structured light depth sensors.”