The Kinect is a body-tracking/motion-sensing camera originally released by Microsoft in 2010, as an add-on to the Xbox 360 video game console. The Kinect has a classic RGB webcam, infrared webcam, infrared projectors and microphones. This enables for the creation of mixed-reality experiences, with features such as real-time depth-tracking, gesture recognition and body skeletal detection, among other things. As such, the device can be used to make hands-free “natural” user interfaces to interact with digital systems. Although it was intended as an alternative game controller, the Kinect has found a somewhat unexpected application in arts, academics and research because it was cheaper and more robust compared to other motion- and depth-sensing technologies at the time of its release. Microsoft now considers non-gaming applications (e.g. robotics, medicine, health care etc.) the primary market for Kinect.
There are two versions of the Kinect (v1 & v2). In AIR Lab we have both versions, but in experience Kinect v1 seems the most hackable/easy to interface with (e.g. through Processing/OpenFrameworks)
Contents
- Kinect motion-sensing camera
- Kinect power adapter
Links
Daniel Shiffman Kinect with Processing tutorial playlist
Inspirational Video using Kinect