Availability of KINECT for Windows SDK Beta

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Imagine having the opportunity to develop using KINECT's amazing environmental awareness, skeletal tracking and natural user interface capabilities.  Well, the day has finally come!!!  Developers and researchers can now download Kinect for Windows SDK!  Here's the answers to the most common questions regarding the Kinect SDK:

What is the Kinect for Windows SDK?

Microsoft® Kinect™ for Windows® Software Development Kit (SDK) is a starter kit for software developers, to make it easier for academic research and enthusiast communities to create rich experiences using Kinect sensor technology on Windows.

Where can I download the Kinect SDK?

Today, Microsoft Research released Kinect for Windows SDK Beta, encouraging developers, academic researchers and enthusiasts to visit their website https://research.microsoft.com/kinectsdk to download the free SDK and access community resources and general information.

What does the Kinect for Windows SDK include?

  • Drivers, for using Kinect sensor device with a Windows-based PC.
  • API and device interfaces, together with technical documentation for developers.
  • Source code samples.
  • Installation and configuration help, plus other resource materials for creatively exploring natural user interface (NUI) possibilities for non-commercial use.

 What will the SDL Cost?

 It will be a free download from Microsoft’s Research website: https://research.microsoft.com/kinectsdk

What are the features of the Kinect for Windows SDK?

  • Raw Sensor Streams: Access to raw data streams from depth sensor, color camera sensor, and the four-element microphone array.  These will allow developers to build upon the low-level streams generated by the Kinect sensor.
  • Skeletal Tracking. Capability to track the skeleton image of one or two people moving within the Kinect field of view making it easy to create gesture-driven applications.
  • Advanced Audio Capabilities. Audio processing capabilities including sophisticated noise suppression and echo cancellation, beam formation to identify the current sound source, and integration with the Windows speech recognition API.
  • Easy to install. The SDK quickly installs in a standard way for Windows with no complex configuration required and a complete installer size of <100 MB. Developers can get up and running in just a few minutes with a standard standalone Kinect sensor unit available widely at retail.
  • Extensive documentation. The SDK includes over a hundred pages of high quality technical documentation. In addition to built-in help files, the documentation includes detailed walkthroughs for most samples provided with the SDK.

 Who can use it?

Anyone can use this SDK for their personal programming interests. The Microsoft Kinect for Windows SDK is created specifically for computer scientists, scientific researchers in academia, and technical enthusiasts who are interested in creatively exploring natural user interface (NUI) possibilities with the Kinect sensor and related technologies.

So the Kinect for Windows SDK is a beta?

Yes. We’re very excited about what we were able to include in this SDK beta but remind people not use a non-commercial beta in lieu of a commercial product.

What is the difference between commercial and non-commercial?

The SDK is intended to provide deeper access to Kinect technology to a broader set of academic researchers and enthusiasts to enable them to explore new ideas for developing creative applications. It is not yet available for commercial use. A commercial SDK will be geared toward enabling ISVs and businesses to develop commercial applications. This non-commercial version does not include support, and confers no intellectual property rights for commercial use.

These are surely exciting times!  So what are you waiting for? Hurry up and download it today!!