The Research Behind Kinect

Posted by Rob Knies

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Over the last few months, I’ve published a series of feature stories to outline the contributions Microsoft Research has made to the groundbreaking Kinect for Xbox 360 (opens in new tab) product, which Guinness World Records has dubbed the fastest-selling consumer electronic device ever.

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This week, the Kinect team is marking the one-year anniversary of Kinect (opens in new tab). With that in mind, I offer this compendium of articles that outline the contributions Microsoft Research has made to the product, involving researchers from Microsoft Research Redmond (opens in new tab), Microsoft Research Asia (opens in new tab), Microsoft Research Cambridge (opens in new tab), and Microsoft Research Silicon Valley (opens in new tab):

• (opens in new tab): As Microsoft prepared to release a non-commercial Kinect for Windows software-development kit (opens in new tab), Ivan Tashev (opens in new tab) of Microsoft Research Redmond explains how the stellar audio functionality included in Kinect came to be.
• (opens in new tab): Work from Microsoft Research Cambridge proved integral to the skeleton-tracking capabilities of Kinect, helping that product become a technological sensation.
• (opens in new tab): Microsoft Research Asia scientists Jian Sun (opens in new tab) and Yichen Wei (opens in new tab) provided identity-recognition research to help Kinect distinguish among multiple players.
• (opens in new tab): Two researchers from Microsoft Research Silicon Valley recall their participation in the work that helped to bring Kinect to market.
  

“The incredible partnership between the Kinect team and Microsoft Research,” says Alex Kipman, general manager for Incubation for Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, “has allowed us to make tomorrow happen today.”

For even more about the research underpinning Kinect, please visit our dedicated webpage.
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