The Microsoft Kinect device is a new addition to the Xbox and allows for game control without a traditional controller.

The Kinect has multiple cameras and microphones as well as an infrared sensor – these components are optimized to track movement (motion), spatial data (depth) and skeletal joint movement in multiple axis.

The Xbox is hardware optimized to utilize data streams from the Kinect device.

Whoops; I am already getting ahead of my learning curve because I am brand new to learning about the Kinect – and I am fascinated about this device and the applications that I can imagine.

My favorite website Wikipedia gives a good technical overview here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinect

I recently won an Xbox bundle that includes the Kinect at the recent Sharepoint Saturday event in Folsom, CA which was sponsored by my friends at Kiefer Consulting.

I have been learning how to program the Xbox and now I am interested in learning how to program for the Kinect.

I may be in luck because now there is a freely available downloadable SDK (software development kit) for kinect from Microsoft:

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/kinectsdk/

This SDK is designed for programming Windows applications for a Windows 7 pc.

But the Kinect that came with my Xbox has a proprietary connector for the Xbox only – and it will not plug into my pc’s usb port.

This is apparently because the Kinect needs more power than a usb connection can provide.

So what to do?

No worries.

There is a usb power supply adapter that is available that will allow me to connect my Kinect to my pc and begin to learn how to program the Kinect: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/en_US/buy/pageType.product/externalRefID.9A4CFC08

I may visit my local Fry’s ( I might call first) and see if they have such an adapter on the shelf.

The SDK comes with sample code and a sample game – I have provided the following video that shows a sample game that comes with the SDK: