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Comment by sudhirj | Hacker News Reader

Love it. This is a game mechanic / movie superhero device that's been around a long time, just love the fact that this does it so simply and with so much promise. As sensitivity and the quality of the neural net increases, combined with AR, this is going to make super soldiers out of SWAT teams.

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Maybe SWAT can use this to validate that it's actually the right house when serving a no-knock warrant. I'm cynical enough to feel like there's no way this is good for any of their targets, though.

Edit: Kolpa makes a really good point! This seems like a really good counter to SWATting, where the claim is that someone is holding hostages or something -- this could pretty effectively demonstrate that to be false if they see one person in an apartment sitting at a computer.

No possible improvement to a SWAT team is ever good for a target. But I think this will prevent false positives a bit. Knowing the posture and stance of the people inside a room can help with where you aim as you go in.

I'd be more afraid that they'd "fear for their lives" at every broomstick and fishing pole they saw through a wall and would start shooting before they even got to the door.

This. It's quite possible that if it looks like you're holding something, they'll just shoot through the wall before even entering.

> Maybe SWAT can use this to validate that it's actually the right house when serving a no-knock warrant.

How would a stick figure images help a SWAT team validate that they're at the right house?

This could only help them by giving them a clue about where to point their guns once they bust down the door.

For example, if they are expecting to find someone with several hostages, and they only find people lying in bed...

And this is why you build a shipping container house -- free Faraday cage, built right in. Not mention that it's not hard to convert shipping containers to meet California earthquake code, or so I've read.

> Not mention that it's not hard to convert shipping containers to meet California earthquake code, or so I've read.

Other than bolting crap down wouldn't that basically consist of making sure it won't tip over?

An earthquake could easily convert such a structure into a casket that 'respects your privacy' with no hope of dialing out for help.

I hope you're not doing anything illegal, citizen.

Was just thinking that this reminds me of the alien weapon in Perfect Dark: https://youtu.be/8DlVQ6OjRcA?t=6s

Pretty common in games actually:

- Deus Ex: Human Revolution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WoaLJ10ZB8

- GoldenEye: Rogue Agent https://youtu.be/EV8xxZec4j8?t=6m39s

but thermal imaging is already available without AI or WiFi..

Not through walls. Radio penetrates a lot more than heat.

Thermal doesn't work through/around walls.

You might want to take a look at Big Clive's video about the radar motion detectors in Chinese E27 socket LED bulbs [0], which have become cheaper even back in mid-2016 than good old PIR motion detectors. The latter are basically a castrated Flir-style camera, the former closer to this.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgdXRLjYkc4

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