The Microsoft Kinect10/01/11

Microsoft Kinect: is it merely a game controller or is it much more than that? In the simplest form the Kinect is a camera but unlike normal cameras, which only record a flat grid of pixels, it records both a pixel’s position in the grid as well as its distance from the sensor.

These processes are handled by a number of different devices but mostly it’s a simple RGB camera and a depth camera (the depth camera works with a laser and micromirror array to create a ‘structured light’ depth pattern).  This allows for all kinds of fun with video games, controller-less play and body mapping.

Oliver Kreylos has gone a little further than this and written software that allows his computer to read data from the Kinect. This enables him to manipulate the feeds and merge them together. The results are astounding and has really interesting potential for the future; we’ll be monitoring his progress closely. In the meantime, check out these videos and hold on to your pixels!