The medical uses for Kinect are extending even further: Gamasutra has reported that Missouri University researchers have shown it can offer aid to nursing homes in assessing an increased chance of illness or a fall in the elderly. During a trial at an independent-living community, researchers referred to the data picked up by Kinect to determine if any residents had a higher risk of experiencing adverse changes to their health. Marilyn Rantz, a nursing professor at the University of Missouri, noted in a video about the study that thanks to the data from the Kinects placed around the facility, such indicators were apparent ten days to two weeks before an event (such as a fall) happens. [Click here for the full PDF detailing the research.]

So far we've seen reports of doctors hacking Kinect to help speed up surgery times, and at June's E3 conference, we spoke with researchers who were creating physical therapy "games" to help patients with rehab. With reports of students programming Kinect to help make robot-aided surgeries safer, will we eventually get used to seeing its Johnny-5 visage before going under the knife?