The Xbox Kinect is one of the hottest selling electronic devices on the market. It’s completely hands free technology makes the user the remote and allows them complete control with body movements and voice commands. On June 16th Microsoft, teamed with Xbox, released the Kinect Software Development Kit to the general public. It is still in the beta stages, but the possibilities now available to everyone are limitless.
Requirements for the Kinect Developer Kit:
The developer kit requires only a few things; a Xbox Kinect device, and a computer that runs on Windows 7. Apart from that, it is up to the user to define their own limits. Once you hook your Kinect device up to your computer you need to download the free software development kit from the website. Don’t worry though, you needn’t be a computer genius, programming junkie, or coding expert to use this. It comes complete with numerous tutorials that show you how to use the voice command, facial recognition, movement tracker, and the other numerous features that the Kinect has.
The amazing thing about the release of this programming kit is the endless possibilities it has created. Using a device for hands free control of something is truly breakthrough, giving that power, and the ability to develop new applications for it to everyone, that goes beyond what words can describe.
To test the Kinect SDK, there was a small convention of programmers, developers, and other people with similar interests who were used as test bunnies. They were given the device, the programming kit, and a computer, and put to work to see what they could create. Many were able to make simple programs and find new ways to use the Kinect within just 24 hours!
So what exactly can people accomplish with this? Truthfully, anything is possible. There is even speculation that this program may help doctors and surgeons when it comes to performing surgery. Others want to use this new gift in an attempt to use it to help their football team. And even more have thought of ways to use the hands free abilities as a way to remotely control other devices.
Now what can we expect for the future? Thousands of ingenious ways to use the Kinect. There are so many people out there who have great ideas, but lack the means to implement them. There are thousands of gamers, enthusiasts, students, and people in general who are able to find new ways to use the Kinect that the developers at Microsoft and Xbox may have never thought of. I’m sure that with the release of this development kit, something amazing will be discovered.