Window Shopping With Gesture Recognition

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Window Shopping With Gesture Recognition

Posted by samzenpus on Monday September 5, 2011 @12:11AM from the point-and-purchase dept.

angry tapir writes "German researchers have given a new meaning to window shopping. At the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute showed a prototype that lets shoppers learn more about what's in a store display window when the store is closed. Called the Interactive Shop Window, the system consists of a flat screen monitor and a motion tracker positioned behind the glass of a store's front window."

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Consumers by Mensa+Babe · 2011-09-05 00:11 · Score: 3, Interesting

Can't they just wait to learn more about what's in a store display window till the store is open? I feel sorry for them. It is called oniomania and I don't really think that we should use technology to worsen the suffering of people who are seriously addicted and need our help instead of blatant exploitation of their condition.

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Karma: Positive (probably because of superiour intellect)
1. Re:Consumers by xtracto · 2011-09-05 00:35 · Score: 2
  
  Well it depends. In Germany, shops must close every Sunday by law. Thus you have a whole day in which a lot of people have free time to go out.... but they cannot enter your store. I have been amazed at this fact since I arrived to Germany 3 years ago. Why would shops close in one of the only days I have free time? A similar thing happened in the UK about 6 years ago (I think they now open also Sundays) but worse, as shops closed exactly at 5:00pm on weekdays (when I got out of work... uh?).
  This technology at least give people something to do on those days. Another option I have thought is for shops to put codes with special discounts on the shop's windows on Saturday before closing. With this codes, they could let consumers order/buy whatever discounted goods via Internet and them, supply them in the store on the next working day.
  
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  Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
2. Re:Consumers by maxwell+demon · 2011-09-05 00:38 · Score: 1
  
  Can't they just wait to learn more about what's in a store display window till the store is open? I feel sorry for them. It is called oniomania and I don't really think that we should use technology to worsen the suffering of people who are seriously addicted and need our help instead of blatant exploitation of their condition.
  Welcome to capitalism.
  
  --
  The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
3. Re:Consumers by maxwell+demon · 2011-09-05 00:41 · Score: 2
  
  This technology at least give people something to do on those days.
  I feel sorry for people who don't know what to do if they can't go shopping.
  
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  The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
4. Re:Consumers by prionic6 · 2011-09-05 00:45 · Score: 1
  
  This may be debatable, but shops close when you have free time because the people who work there would like to have free time, too.
5. Re:Consumers by nashv · 2011-09-05 01:13 · Score: 1
  
  On the other hand, you don't want retail staff having free time when the consumer is most likely to shop. It comes with the job package. Living in Germany after growing up in a megacity like Mumbai , I find this close-early/weekends off habit of stores utterly strange and illogical.
  
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  Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
6. Re:Consumers by Sockatume · 2011-09-05 01:56 · Score: 1
  
  The target here isn't "consumers", it's "stores". It's been developed so it can be sold to stores who will hope it can help advertise their wares. It has not - as you seem to have misconstrued - been developed to meet some demand from consumers. That demand does not exist.
  
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  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
7. Re:Consumers by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-05 02:02 · Score: 0
  
  Tell that to the churches...
  (In that case it's called religious schizophrenia.)
8. Re:Consumers by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-05 02:34 · Score: 0
  
  Yeah well, surprise, asshole.
  News flash: A store is not some self-sufficient facility and employees aren't mindless automatons who run the place to rake in the cash. They are people. Yes, real people who want their day off, too.
  Capitalist fascists treating people like a resource piss me off.
9. Re:Consumers by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-05 03:10 · Score: 0
  
  No, not a resource, but this is retail. Hire 2 more people that can work weekends and a few shifts during the week. You know, college students who need extra cash. If they have a need for this device on closed days because so many people come by, then it would probably be an advantage to have the store open those days. The shop owner is in business to make money right? Or are they there to give people days off because they have a life too?
10. Re:Consumers by jperl · 2011-09-05 03:12 · Score: 1
  
  I for one would think that online shops which are open 24/7 are worse for people suffering from shopping addiction. An online shops seems much more tempting than a physical store which is even closed. If you are dependent on shopping, simply getting information about a product will not satisfy your needs.
11. Re:Consumers by Hognoxious · 2011-09-05 09:06 · Score: 1
  
  Some of us don't have our moms living upstairs to do our shopping for us.
  
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  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
12. Re:Consumers by Hognoxious · 2011-09-05 09:14 · Score: 1
  
  I wasn't aware that every employee had to be there all the time the store is open. And it must be superb being a criminal if the police only work 9-5, M-F.
  Moron.
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
13. Re:Consumers by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-05 09:50 · Score: 0
  
  But... but... this is capitalism! We have to extract every cent from these people that we can!
14. Re:Consumers by antdude · 2011-09-05 12:41 · Score: 1
  
  It reminds me of commercials with women waiting for Ross(?) stores' doors to open many years ago. Heh. :)
  
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  Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
ooh oooh it's moving by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-05 00:25 · Score: 0

Finally a stoner nightcare center :)
The solution in America is different. by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-05 00:29 · Score: 0

Maybe this technology would work in Europe, but in America the only viable solution would be for Walmart to stay open 24/7 all year round.
Start with a decent Website instead by PolygamousRanchKid+ · 2011-09-05 00:30 · Score: 1

If the store has a decent Website, I can browse whatever is in there from the comfort of my own home. In the simplest version, just take a few photos of the inside of the store, and update them every week; no need for a content management system.
Just write the Web address in the store window, or has "A Method and Process of Getting Folks to Visit Your Website by Advertising it" already been patented?

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Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
1. Re:Start with a decent Website instead by GameboyRMH · 2011-09-05 02:02 · Score: 1
  
  Exactly, this could be useful for advertising (in which case it doesn't need to be interactive), but a website with a good product catalog would solve the problem. Best of all, that way the person doesn't need to be standing at your storefront and can look at your products any time they like! Amazing!
  
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  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
But by rossdee · 2011-09-05 00:33 · Score: 1

I don't want to go Window shopping, I am quite happy with Windows XP SP3 and don't see any need to upgrade to a slower bloated operating system.
1. Re:But by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-05 01:34 · Score: 0
  
  Ready, knee... jerk!
  Nicely gratuitous slam at Microsoft. You put the "jerk" in "knee-jerk".
  Whoosh!
Just some bugs to sort out. by richy+freeway · 2011-09-05 00:37 · Score: 1

Like the fact it doesn't fucking work. Why gestures? You could put a touch screen layer on the glass and people could interact with it like that. I've seen it done at least a decade ago for a tourist information kiosk and it worked just fine. Sounds like this is a solution desperately looking for a problem and a solution for it's own problems.
1. Re:Just some bugs to sort out. by Sockatume · 2011-09-05 01:59 · Score: 1
  
  How often do you seem someone wash their hands before leaving the restroom ? How often do you seem someone wash their hands before they use a touchscreen?
  (Also an optical gesture control system means you don't have to modify your existing glazing to accomodate a touchscreen, but not getting Mr. I Was Just Pissing's dick germs on my hands is reason enough.)
  
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  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
2. Re:Just some bugs to sort out. by richy+freeway · 2011-09-05 02:09 · Score: 2
  
  s/touchscreen/pay phone/door handle/any other object someone else might have handled before me/
  
  The very fact that this product doesn't even work properly, and they admit that, just goes to show what a massive waste of time it is. Can you honestly see people waving their arms around in front of a shop window to find out more about a product. Information they're not going to be able to take home with them and study/compare.
  
  Just stick some QR codes to the window and let people use their own hardware to access your website either on their phone or at home later.
3. Re:Just some bugs to sort out. by Sockatume · 2011-09-05 02:42 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, I suppose "it's not as unhygenic as an outdoor touchscreen" isn't exactly a positive trait.
  
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  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Still not ready by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-05 00:51 · Score: 0

Sadly, most of the way through the accompanying video it mentions the system is "still somewhat glitchy" - translation, it still doesn't work right. Watch the first sequence where the company rep is scrolling; on his last scroll it appears to misread and select the item instead. Kinda crappy if it can't even get through their own demo without mistakes.
First thing that crossed my mind was whether it would get better fidelity if they hooked up a couple of Kinect sensors instead. Indeed, they apparently did say something to this effect in the article. The gestures themselves probably need some work as well. Finally, they noted that reflections off the internal side of the glass are a problem too (no doubt). Actually kind of an interesting problem to solve.
How is it exploitation? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-05 01:05 · Score: 0

How exactly is it exploitation? The stores aren't forcing anyone to find out more info about the products, let alone actually buy the goods. In fact, the very nature of the store being closed prevents that activity from happening immediately!
This is merely the stores trying to make it convenient for normal people, who don't claim to be affected by every bullshit "condition" in the book, to voluntarily get more information about the products being sold.
1. Re:How is it exploitation? by nashv · 2011-09-05 01:17 · Score: 0
  
  Oh don't bother. This is 'exploitation ' by the same flawed logic that "I don't have common sense, and am incompetent at paying attention to my environment and making my own decisions about what I should and should not do. Therefore, I can sue you if my coffee cup doesn't say "Hot Contents". " Pure balderdash.
  
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  Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
Obligatory hooligans on looting spree joke by Latent+Heat · 2011-09-05 01:55 · Score: 1

Oooooh! Flat screen!
Gestures? How about the one of the arm cocked back about to throw a hard object? Danger Will Robinson! People attempting to shop the store after hours!
1. Re:Obligatory hooligans on looting spree joke by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-05 08:55 · Score: 0
  
  Unlike England, they don't have many niggers in Germany.
2. Re:Obligatory hooligans on looting spree joke by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-05 11:56 · Score: 0
  
  Unlike England, they don't have many niggers in Germany.
  Their Turks and Armenians would beg to differ.
Am I the only one who read by lachesis-jp · 2011-09-05 04:22 · Score: 1

Windows Shipping with Gesture Recognition.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-05 04:34 · Score: 0

No matter how well intended this is, there's a few problems with this tech. First, criminals could use it for good effect, especially in the case of jewelry stores. Second, they could gain a fairly accurate worth of whats in the store (or at least the front window for a good smash and grab).
Old technology by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-05 04:55 · Score: 0

I had this working years ago and did an updated version using a 3d camera a couple of years ago.
Not new, not even particularly clever.
Oh, this is good, this is really really GOOD by rim_namor · 2011-09-05 04:57 · Score: 1

I love this. I want to play with it. I have a few "gestures" I want it to recognize. Incidentally I am performing one of those gestures right now. Well, two of them, they are reciprocal. I also like to wear long coats, I have a collection. So I just may ask the thing to show me another long coat.
Not new technology by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-05 08:59 · Score: 0

Uh, I live in a little back-water town about 30 minutes outside Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and shops have had exactly this setup in my area for years. Even the under-funded tourist information booths sometimes have them. How is it something to show off at a show?
Two world wars and one world cup by Hognoxious · 2011-09-05 09:03 · Score: 1

Can it recognize this, you fucking squareheads?

--
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."