Wii to fight terrorism in the airports.

[rug]

Nervous flyers, beware: a Department of Homeland Security-funded project is investigating whether Wii Fit Balance Boards might be good ways to detect signs of tension or unease in airport security lines.

As somewhere over 20 million Wii Fit owners know, the Balance Board can detect your precise balance point, making it a perfect keep-fit tool -- but the Future Attribute Screening Technology project hopes detecting physiological signs -- including rapid shifts in balance -- will help identify passengers who may have hostile intentions.

"Researchers took a Wii balance board...and altered it to show how someone's weight shifts. Studies are now under way to determine whether there is a level of fidgeting that would suggest the need for secondary screening," CNN said.

The Balance Board is just one of a suite of sensors the Boston-based project is trialing; others include eye trackers and devices that record respiratory and heart rates. Researchers say their goal is to have a system ready for field tests in 2011.

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/fit-to-fly-balance-board-tapped-to-detect-shifty-characters-at-airports/1361483

[donco6]

1. Knowing this, now I'm going to be even more nervous at the airport.

They'll never let me on a plane again.

[Bonobo]

2. I have flat feet. I shift weight when I stand for a long time. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Gee mommy devices,

they do realize that many people have balance problems that have nothing to do with C-4... yes Echellon, eat shit...

[morillon]

4. I have been a fidgety person all my life.

I'd drive their little meters nuts. :-) They keep looking for ways to automate things that really do require smarts and observation and people power, and they just don't freakin' get it.

[MisterP]

5. they're looking for nervous, shifty people at an airport?!

'sides, terrorists wouldn't have hostile intentions in the terminal itself: they won't be lashing out against people in front of them, but threatening an airplane's occupants