A camera watches the space in front of a secure area, when a person approaches and performs the appropriate secret handshake (with imaginary partner). The AI (artificial intelligence) software receiving the camera images, recognises the secret handshake gestures and opens the door.
Im sure this would be easier than trying to remember passwords, and imagine the fun when your boss calls you into a private meeting to teach you the latest secret handshake. Accessing secure areas will never be the same...-- drainfood, Jul 22 2003 Gesture recognition http://www.cybernet.com/~ccohen/Lots of technology here [dweeb, Oct 04 2004] Err, How do you get in if there's no-one about to shake hands with?-- nick3, Jul 22 2003 Nice...-- RayfordSteele, Jul 22 2003 Baked. At least in Hollywood.
See the film "Undercover Brother" or save 90 minutes of your life and trust me.-- grip, Jul 22 2003 Interesting novelty application based on a well researched - if not baked (see link) - technology.
Advantage: Easy to give others, computer doesn't know/care who you are - just that you know the secret handshake.
Disadvantage: Easy to give others or observe, not much security.-- dweeb, Jul 22 2003 A friend worked on a "smart house" prototype at Georgia Tech that used gesture recognition to control all sorts of things. You would wear a pendant that contained a concealed camera. When you wanted to control something (stereo, lights, etc), you would make a particular gesture in front of your chest that the camera would recognize and signal the house. So this is definitely bakeable, I've seen it in action.-- krelnik, Jul 22 2003 dweeb: thanks for the link, I did some image recognition stuff at Uni, but I didn't realise so much research had been done on gesture based interfaces-- drainfood, Jul 22 2003 Anyone ever seen "Undercover Brother"? Very funny scene where this idea is used.-- sloaned, Jul 22 2003 Why not just have a prosthetic hand sticking out of the door with sensors in so it knows what your doing. i would feel a little silly shaking hands with nothing.-- andrew1, Sep 27 2005 Howabout a robotic head that sneers 'What's the password?' through a small sliding door?-- RayfordSteele, Sep 28 2005 random, halfbakery