Publications
News & features
News & features
Overview
The Sensors and Devices Group was founded by Steve Hodges in 2005 with the ambition of building hardware systems that change people’s perceptions of technology and how it can be used. Under Steve’s leadership, the group brought together hardware, software and design skills and worked closely with collaborators from other disciplines across Microsoft and the wider community.
From 2005-2015 the group invented and prototyped a wide variety of new interactive devices and experiences. These leveraged new developments across a broad range of technologies such as sensors, displays, wireless communications, energy management, and device fabrication.
The group’s work was published at top-tier academic venues and enjoyed international media coverage, but more importantly, many of the devices and experiences were seeded in the market as products and product features, both by Microsoft and by partners. Learn more about many of the group’s projects and the impact they have had via the thumbnails below and the tabs above.
In 2012 the I3D group spun out of the Sensors and Devices group to focus on various forms of 3D interaction based on novel hardware and algorithms, ultimately leading to Holoportation. The Connected Play initiative was also split out from the group in 2014. In 2016 the core team joined what was then a nascent connected device security project which grew into Azure Sphere.
People
Nick Trim
Lab Technician
Phil Wright
Hardware Engineer
Additional news
- How to inkjet-print an electronic circuit, Wired, 10 July 2015
- Microsoft and the micro:bit: A million ways to inspire a generation, Microsoft News Centre UK, 7 July 2015
- How to Inkjet print an electronic circuit, Wired, 20 May 2015
- Thumbnail track pad, MIT News, 17 April 2015
- Home inkjet printer fabricates circuit boards on photo paper, Tech World, 29 April 2014
- Home Inkjet Printer Fabricates Circuit Boards on Photo Paper, Computerworld, 28 April 2014
- Researcher develop cost effective inkjet based circuits, EET Asia, 11 November 2013
- Hack your useless inkjet to print electronic circuits, Fast Company Labs, 11 November 2013
- Inkjet printing custom designed Micro circuits, Slashdot, 8 November 2013
- Time and cost effective Inkjet based circuits developed, Yahoo News, 7 November 2013
- Instant inkjet circuits, ZDNet, 7 October 2013
- Print a Working Paper Computer on an $80 Inkjet, New Scientist, 3 October 2013
- Microsoft’s Gadgeteer Aims to Make Creating Gadgets as Simple as Building with Lego, ZDNet, 2 October 2013
- Putting Your Work ID Badge to Work, Inside Microsoft Research, 1 May 2013
- Life logging, BBC World Service, 31 December 2012
- SenseCam helps brain tumour boy’s memory. The Sun, 27 June 2012.
- The Digital Human. BBC Radio 4, 20 April 2012.
- All-seeing time-lapse reveals altered memories. New Scientist, 23 February 2012.
- ES 2012: Dual view TV and Kinect 3D, BBC Click, 16 January 2012
- How I remember: the lifelogger. The Guardian, 14 January 2012.
- What gives scientists – and writers – credibility. New Scientist, 28 October 2011.
- Kinect Project Merges Real and Virtual Worlds, Technology Review, 30 September 2011
- Microsoft’s KinectFusion research project offers real-time 3D reconstruction, wild AR possibilities, engadget, 9 August 2011
- .NET Gadgeteer looks to draw tinkering geeks away from Arduino, Slash Gear, 4 August 2011
- Liz Hayes: Wiped Clean. 60 Minutes Australia, 11 March 2011.
- Claire’s life, 9:53-10:42. John Sutton, The Psychologist, 1 February 2011
- Recovering Memory: Can a New Device Help Amnesia Patients? Time Magazine, 11 October 2010
- Microsoft works with Leeds scientists on disease, Yorkshire Evening Post, 18 December 2007
- Microsoft SenseCam concept now available as Vicon Revue. Gizmag, 17 December 2010.
- Amnesia and Camera: Photos as Memories. TIME Magazine Video, October 2010.
- Your Life, Uploaded: The Digital Way to Better Memory, Health, and Productivity. Gordon Bell and Jim Gemmell.
- Remains of the Day by Eben Harrell. TIME Magazine, October 2010.
- Gordon Bell discusses e-memory and SenseCam. BBC Digital Planet, 10 August 2010
- A Neck-Worn Camera to Aid Memory. GeekBeat.TV, 20 July 2010.
- Woman with 10-minute recall hopes camera will jog memory by snapping every 15 secs. Daily Mail Online, 11 June 2010.
- Eyewitness Documentary. BBC 2, 2 May 2010.
- Microsoft Sensecam Review: What it’s like to record your whole life. Gizmodo, 20 March 2010.
- SenseCam. Sky News, 19 March 2010.
- A Little Black Box to Jog Failing Memory. New York Times, 8 March 2010.
- Save your life… digitise. Times Online, 4 February 2010.
- Prosthetic Memory: A Camera That Gives Back Lost Moments. Inkling Magazine, 28 December 2009.
- Camera catches all life’s details. CNN, 9 November 2009.
- Life-logging camera brings new hope for memory-loss patients. CNN International, 5 November 2009.
- Do digital diaries mess up your brain? CNN, 3 November 2009.
- Privacy is dead, and social media hold smoking gun. CNN, 28 October 2009.
- The Edge. BBC Radio 4, 25 October 2009.
- New camera will reveal your entire life. The Daily Telegraph, 19 October 2009.
- Week In tech Reviewed. NPR, 19 October 2009.
- Your life in pictures by ten days slices. Gizmodo, 19 October 2009.
- Vicon Revue camera launched. Pocket-Lint, 19 October 2009.
- SenseCam lifelogging camera hitting. Slash Gear, 19 October 2009.
- ViconRevenue plans to make lifelogging for all of us. Stuff TV, 19 October 2009.
- Microsoft’s life-blogging SenseCam becomes the ViconRevue, coming to a lanyard near you in 2010.
Engadget, 19 October 2009. - New Camera Promises to Capture Your Whole Life. ABC News, 18 October 2009.
- Camera Records Your Life, 10 Days at a Time. Gizmodo, 16 October 2009.
- Sharewatch OMG. Financial Times, 16 October 2009.
- New camera promises to capture your whole life. New Scientist, 16 October 2009.
- OMG launching new camera for Alzheimer’s patients. Times, 15 October 2009.
- Sainsbury jumps 10% on bid talk, but fails to lift FTSE. The Guardian, 15 October 2009.
- OMG launching new camera for Alzheimer’s patients. Times Online, 15 October 2009.
- Microsoft camera deal powers OMG share jump. Reuters, 15 October 2009.
- Show time for wearable camera. Business Weekly, 15 October 2009.
- SenseCam. The One Show, 21 April 2009.
- Camera ‘boosts memory’ to help dementia patients. Daily Telegraph, 24 March 2009.
- New camera designed to help dementia sufferers. Daily Telegraph Online, 23 March 2009.
- The portable camera that combats memory loss bringing hope to dementia sufferers. Daily Mail Online, 23 March 2009.
- SenseCam. BBC Look East, 16 March 2009.
- NEUROSCIENCE: A Memorable Device. Science, 13 March 2009.
- Advances for Alzheimer’s, Outside the Lab. Time Magazine Online, 23 February 2009.
- Man Machine – SenseCam. Open2.net, 5 October 2008.
- Remember, Remember. BBC Radio 3, 21 September 2008.
- Mind your own memory. BBC Radio Times, 20 September 2008.
- Visual Recall. Readers Digest, September 2008.
- Alzheimer’s camera aid ‘helps to restore memory’, Daily Mail, 12 December 2007
- Breakthrough on Alzheimer’s, Daily Express, 11 December 2007
- Camera ‘aids memory loss fight’, BBC News, 11 December 2007
- High-tech Alzheimer’s breakthrough hailed, Yorkshire Post Today, 10 December 2007
- Camera’s pictures of forgotten life, Yorkshire Post Today, 10 December 2007
- A Camera to Help Dementia Patients, Technology Review, 10 December 2007
- SenseCam Aids Patients with Memory Problems, Slashdot, 10 December 2007
- Microsoft unveils hands-on vision of the future, CNN.com, 4 December 2007
- Multi-touch display can ‘see’ objects too, New Scientist, 18 October 2007
- Microsoft R&D shows off multi-touch laptop, Engadget, 22 June 2007
- Somewhere along the line we’re going to have to start differentiating exactly what we mean by “multi-touch”, Slashgear, 20 June 2007
- Microsoft Research demonstrates laptop-compatible multi-touch displays, istartedsomething.com, 20 June 2007
- Remember This? A project to record everything we do in life, The New Yorker, 28 May 2007
- Reserachers Records his life on Computer. Katie Couric: Quick, can you remember what you had for breakfast? CBS Evening News, 09 April 2007
- Wear your memory round your neck, Daily Mail, 24 March 2007
- Want To Buy Some Cool New Stuff From Microsoft? Not This Stuff, Not Yet, InformationWeek, March 6 2007
- Your whole life documented electronically, Slash Gear, 21 February 2007
- Government-backed digital sharing project kicks off, Computer Weekly – Feature on Participate, 05 September 2006
- Tech Boost for Memory power, CNN.com, 31 August 2006
- Microsoft’s festival of future, Seattle Times, March 3rd 2005
- ‘Black box’ cam for total recall, BBC News, June 15th 2004
- Alzheimer’s patients to trial MS labs life-blog gadget, The Register, June 11th 2004
- Does SenseCam Make Any Sense?, Wired News, March 4th 2004
- TechFest: Cool stuff you don’t know you need yet, USA Today, March 4th 2004