35 Facts About Kinect

Kinect is a line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010.

Kinect was originally developed as a motion controller peripheral for Xbox video game consoles, distinguished from competitors by not requiring physical controllers.

The first-generation Kinect was based on technology from Israeli company PrimeSense, and unveiled at E3 2009 as a peripheral for Xbox 360 codenamed "Project Natal".

The majority of the games developed for Kinect were casual, family-oriented titles, which helped to attract new audiences to Xbox 360, but did not result in wide adoption by the console's existing, overall userbase.

Microsoft announced that Kinect would be a required component of the console, and that it would not function unless the peripheral is connected.

Related searches

Kinect has been used as part of non-gaming applications in academic and commercial environments, as it was cheaper and more robust compared to other depth-sensing technologies at the time.

Part of the Kinect technology was used within Microsoft's Hololens project.

Origins of the Kinect started around 2005, at a point where technology vendors were starting to develop depth-sensing cameras.

One of the first internal titles developed for the device was the pack-in game Kinect Adventures developed by Good Science Studio that was part of Microsoft Studios.

One of the game modes of Kinect Adventures was "Reflex Ridge", based on the Japanese Brain Wall game where players attempt to contort their bodies in a short time to match cutouts of a wall moving at them.

Kinect was first announced to the public as "Project Natal" on June 1, 2009, during Microsoft's press conference at E3 2009; film director Steven Spielberg joined Microsoft's Don Mattrick to introduce the technology and its potential.

Kinect was launched in North America on November 4, 2010; in Europe on November 10, 2010; in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore on November 18, 2010; and in Japan on November 20, 2010.

The Kinect team recognized some of the downsides with more traditional games and Kinect, and continued ongoing development of the unit to be released as a second-generation unit, such as reducing the latency of motion detection and improving speech recognition.

Richard Irving, a program group manager that oversaw Kinect, said that Microsoft had felt that it was more important to give developers and consumers the option of developing for or purchasing the Kinect rather than forcing the unit on them.

Developers like Harmonix that had been originally targeting games to use the Xbox One had put these games on hold until they knew there was enough of a Kinect install base to justify release, which resulted in a lack of games for the Kinect and reducing any consumer drive to buy the separate unit.

Microsoft initially took issue with users hacking into the Kinect, stating they would incorporate additional safeguards into future iterations of the unit to prevent such hacks.

Commercial interest in Kinect was still strong, with David Dennis, a product manager at Microsoft, stating "There are hundreds of organizations we are working with to help them determine what's possible with the tech".

The Azure Kinect device was released on June 27, 2019, at a price of, while the SDK for the unit had been released in February 2019.

The infrared projector on the Kinect sends out modulated infrared light which is then captured by the sensor.

Once Kinect has a pixel-by-pixel depth image, Kinect uses a type of edge detection here to delineate closer objects from the background of the shot, incorporating input from the regular visible light camera.

Kinect for Xbox 360 was a combination of Microsoft built software and hardware.

Kinect sensor is a horizontal bar connected to a small base with a motorized pivot and is designed to be positioned lengthwise above or below the video display.

The sensing range of the depth sensor is adjustable, and Kinect software is capable of automatically calibrating the sensor based on gameplay and the player's physical environment, accommodating for the presence of furniture or other obstacles.

Kinect for Windows is a modified version of the Xbox 360 unit which was first released on February 1, 2012, alongside the SDK for commercial use.

The new Kinect has greater accuracy with three times the fidelity over its predecessor and can track without visible light by using an active IR sensor.

Related searches

Kinect's microphone is used to provide voice commands for actions such as navigation, starting games, and waking the console from sleep mode.

On May 7, 2018, Microsoft announced a new iteration of Kinect technology designed primarily for enterprise software and artificial intelligence usage.

The application can use Kinect's tracking functionality and Kinect sensor's motorized pivot to keep users in frame even as they move around.

Xbox 360 games that require Kinect are packaged in special purple cases, and contain a prominent "Requires Kinect Sensor" logo on their front cover.

Games that include features utilizing Kinect, but do not require it for standard gameplay, have "Better with Kinect Sensor" branding on their front covers.

Third-party publishers of available and announced Kinect games include, among others, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, LucasArts, THQ, Activision, Konami, Sega, Capcom, Namco Bandai and MTV Games.

Companies So touch and Evoluce have developed presentation software for Kinect that can be controlled by hand gestures; among its features is a multi-touch zoom mode.

In human motion tracking, Kinect might suffer from occlusion which is when some human body joints are occluded and cannot be tracked accurately by Kinect's skeletal model.

CNET's review pointed out how Kinect keeps players active with its full-body motion sensing but criticized the learning curve, the additional power supply needed for older Xbox 360 consoles and the space requirements.

Kinect competes with several motion controllers on other home consoles, such as Wii Remote, Wii Remote Plus and Wii Balance Board for the Wii and Wii U, PlayStation Move and PlayStation Eye for the PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Camera for the PlayStation 4.