Kinect SDK for Windows shown off, coming soon

[nsane.forums]

Microsoft's research wing has announced that developers can now sign up for the Kinect Software Development Kit (SDK) that will launch soon, with a full SDK beta for hobbyists on the way on May 16 later in the spring.

According to Mary-Jo Foley, Microsoft officials made the announcement at Mix 11 earlier in the day and even gave additional details as to what the developer's edition of the Kinect for Windows Beta SDK will include.

While according to the official Kinect for Windows SDK beta page, the set of tools will allow you to:

• The latest advances in audio processing, which include a four-element microphone array with sophisticated acoustic noise and echo cancellation for crystal clear audio.
• Sound source localization for beamforming, which enables the determination of a sound's spatial location, enhancing reliability when integrated with the Microsoft speech recognition API.
• Depth data, which provides the distance of an object from the Kinect camera, as well as the raw audio and image data, which together open up opportunities for creating richer natural user interface experiences.
• Highly performant and robust skeletal tracking capabilities for determining the body positions of one or two persons moving within the Kinect field of view.
• Documentation for the APIs and a description of the SDK architecture.
• Sample code that demonstrates how to use the functionality in the SDK.

Since the release of the Xbox 360 Kinect in November, hackers have been creating homebrew applications and games for the motion camera. The Kinect homebrew began shortly after its launch, with a number of applications including a Star Wars light saber application, a Minority Report style control, and a 3D demonstration.

Microsoft previously announced that the Kinect for Windows SDK would be available sometime in Spring 2011. According to sources, the SDK was originally scheduled to be available all along, but the company needed to set its priority first. The Kinect SDK will be available for free in beta form to everyone on May 16 in the Spring, and a commercial SDK license will also be available in the near future.

Update: Thanks to Microsoft for letting us know that The Microsoft Research twitter feed has retracted the May 16 date and removed the tweet that had that date included in it. They now state that it "later this Spring". The e-mail reiterated that it will not be released on May 16.

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[DKT27]

It has been in the cards for a while, but now it's been shown off for real: the Kinect SDK is coming to Windows. The beta will be available some time in the spring, with an eventual release later in the year. The SDK will give Windows developers access to the Kinect's array of sensors, and will make both low-level sensor data and high-level skeleton tracking available.

Developers have been interested in Kinect since it launched, with third-party drivers being developed just days after the device hit the market—a swift response that surprised even Microsoft. The company is keen to capitalize on this considerable interest, hence the SDK release. Initially the SDK will only offer noncommercial usage terms; commercial licensing is on the cards, but the company is not yet sure what the terms will be.

Exactly what the SDK will be used for is an open question—in a way, it's part of the fun. Kinect is a pretty versatile piece of kit, combining directional audio, cameras, and depth perception, and there's sure to be a lot of experimentation involved in producing effective software interfaces built on the technology. Some demos shown off at the MIX conference included a system to provide navigation cues to the blind and partially sighted, and perhaps less usefully, a Kinect-controlled recliner. The most impressive demonstration was a Kinect interface to the WorldWide Telescope.

WordWide Telescope combines data from a bunch of different telescopes to make pretty pictures of the visible universe Looking into the future, Microsoft envisages Kinect-like technology being available more widely, perhaps even built into monitors or laptops, along with modifications to allow users to be closer to the sensors. Kinect is just the first step towards a world of more natural user interfaces.

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