Microsoft Kinect

2017

Kinect death

The Microsoft company stopped production of the game controller Kinect what announced the Co.Design edition in October, 2017 founder of Kinect Alex Kipman and general marketing manager of Xbox Mathew Lepsen (Matthew Lapsen). From the moment of release of the device in 2010 Microsoft sold them about 35 million pieces. In 2011 Kinect was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the most quickly sold gadget. Now, after retailers will sell out the stocks which remained with them, Kinect will disappear from sale as new deliveries will not be. At the same time, the company does not intend stops support of the device for users. The situation with development tools remains not clear, Co.Design writes.

The edition notes that Microsoft was some time ago refocused with Kinect on more traditional game technologies to be more competitive in a competition with PS4. However the Kinect technology will continue to live in a helmet of augmented reality Hololens which was also developed by Kipman. Participants of the command working on Kinect are engaged in development of a number of technologies, basic for Microsoft, now, such as voice Cortana assistant, system of face recognition Windows Hello and smart interface of the future who will be able to understand a surrounding situation.

Perspectives off side

The The Verge edition notes that Microsoft refuses production Kinect just when sensing technologies of the person, movements and votes of the user are collected the increasing popularity. For example, new iPhone X uses recognition of the person for a screen unblocking. Siri voice assistant started by Apple in 2010 operates the same principle of voice actuation, as his age-mate of Kinect, writes Co.Design. Google has not only a voice search, but also the system of recognition of three-dimensional space known too as Project Tango which development is headed by Johnny Lee helping a few years ago with work on Kinect.

2016: Use at cancer therapy

In October, 2016 it became known of creation of the soft robots used for treatment of oncological diseases. Developers took the camera Kinect used in video game consoles of Microsoft as a basis of the technology.

Development received the name a soft robotic stabilization system of provision of the patient in real time. It was created by scientists from Texas Olalekan Ogunmolu, Xuejun Gu, Steve Jiang and Nicholas Gans. Information on innovation is published in a digital library of arXiv.org.

Scientists used the camera Microsoft Kinect to fight against cancer

The created equipment will allow to fix precisely the patient's provision for performing radiation therapy with the modulated intensity (Intensity-modulated radiationtherapy, IMRT) which serves for removal of tumors.

The robots who are the deformable polymeric body with the cameras filled with liquid are manufactured of the light, strong and deformable polyester and polyvinylchloride managed by current of two solenoid valves and two silicone rubber tubes, which are responsible for air input and output. Devices can be managed using regulation of amount of liquid in the camera.

A robotic system uses 3D - the camera (RGB-D) Microsoft Kinect which defines provision of the head of the person in space. Special software analyzes these data and defines that provision which parts of a body of the patient for exact carrying out IMRT should have. The program gives signals to a pneumatic system which regulates chamber pressure.

Results of testing showed that a system is capable to kontrolit the movement of the head with an accuracy of 2 mm in relation to a reference trajectory, increasing efficiency of treatment of cancer tumors of a neck and head. Scientists announce nothing technology entry terms into the commercial market.^[1]

2012

Kinect known also as Project Natal, was initially created for the game console Xbox 360. The version for the PC running Windows appeared in 2012, the version for Xbox One – in 2013 Kinect consists of sensors of depth, the video camera and the microphone. Thanks to infrared radiation the controller is capable to distinguish the movement of a body of the user who is in the premises. The microphone suppresses noise and allows to recognize voice commands. The purpose of creation of Kinect was to increase popularity of Xbox, having given the chance to players to play a game using gestures and a voice. Spent about $500 million for the advertizing campaign of the first Kinect'a Microsoft^[2].

The sensing technology of movements which is the cornerstone of a system was developed by the Israeli company PrimeSense and afterwards Microsoft is licensed. The same technology meets also in products of other vendors, such as similar Kinect'U Asus Xtion or ZCam webcam of 3DV Systems company.

To make Kinect more popular, Microsoft promised to sell Xbox One already complete with the controller. However the price of such set reached $499 that was too expensive in comparison with the competing PS4. Therefore the company disconnected Kinect and Xbox One, having reduced thus the price of a prefix for $100.

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