Kinect For Windows SDK Beta

Kinect for Xbox is one of our favorite technologies in recent times and with over 10 million units sold and Microsoft has taken the Kinect’s magic a step further by announcing the Kinect for Windows SDK beta. Developers will now be able to build Kinect apps using Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft did some live coding, showing how straight forward it is to work with. To get the full skeleton tracking you’re going to need the same sort of setup as on the Xbox 360 and Microsoft isn’t confirming any plans to integrate Kinect compatibility with any of its major apps……….

Microsoft Corp. announced the availability of Kinect for Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) from Microsoft Research, a free beta release for noncommercial applications. The SDK is designed to empower a growing community of developers, academic researchers and enthusiasts to create new experiences that include depth sensing, human motion tracking and voice and object recognition using Kinect technology on Windows 7. To celebrate the release, Microsoft invited a select group of developers to the Microsoft campus in Redmond, challenging them to test the limits of their imaginations using the SDK in a Channel 9 Live 24-hour coding marathon (aka “Code Camp“). Working with the new toolkit and a vast array of hardware, developers are expected to build concept applications across a diverse range of scenarios, including, potentially, healthcare, science and education. “The Kinect for Windows SDK opens up a world of possibilities to developers who want to unleash the power of Kinect technology on Windows,” said Anoop Gupta, distinguished scientist, Microsoft Research. “We can’t wait to see what this community will create as we work together to build more natural, intuitive computing experiences.” The Kinect for Windows SDK, which works with Windows 7, includes drivers, rich APIs for Raw Sensor Streams, natural user interfaces, installer documents and resource materials. The SDK provides Kinect capabilities to developers building applications with C++, C# or Visual Basic using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. Microsoft intends to release a commercial version of the SDK at a later date; details will be released when they are available.

Features :

Raw Sensor Streams. Developers have access to raw data streams from depth sensor, color camera sensor and the four-element microphone array. These will allow them to build upon the low-level streams generated by the Kinect sensor.
Skeletal Tracking. The SDK has the capability to track the skeleton image of one or two people moving within the Kinect field of view, making it possible to create gesture-driven applications.
Advanced Audio Capabilities. Audio processing capabilities include sophisticated noise suppression and echo cancellation, beam formation to identify the current sound source, and integration with the Windows speech recognition API.
Ease of installation. The SDK quickly installs in a standard way for Windows 7 with no complex configuration required and a complete installer size of less than 100 MB. Developers can get up and running in just a few minutes with a standard standalone Kinect sensor unit widely available at retail.
Extensive documentation. The SDK includes more than 100 pages of high-quality technical documentation. In addition to built-in help files, the documentation includes detailed walkthroughs for most samples provided with the SDK.