Here’s What Makes the Xbox Kinect Tick [PICS]

Today was the launch of the much-anticipated Xbox Kinect, Microsoft’s gesture-based, controller-free gaming system. The $150 device is filled with cameras and sensors that detect 3-D gestures and commands with surprising accuracy.

What makes the Kinect really tick, though? What’s the magic behind the Kinect’s motion-sensing technology? What has Microsoft packed into its gaming device?

Thanks to the people over at iFixit, we’ve got some answers. They’ve torn the Kinect apart (much like they did with the iPad), revealing the guts of the device.

Here are some of the highlights:

The device has two cameras and an infrared projector. The left camera is infrared (320×240) and the center camera is color (640×480).

It utilizes Prime Sense technology for its 3-D gesture recognition. Interestingly enough, Microsoft recently acquired its primary competitor, Canesta.

It has four separate microphones, three on the right side and one on the left side.

Its motherboard includes a Wolfson Microelectronics WM8737G, a Fairchild Semiconductor FDS8984, and 512 MB of DDR2 SDRAM.

The Kinect packs a lot of sensory devices into one package, but it’s really the gesture recognition technology that makes this thing tick. We’ve tried out the Kinect and have been impressed by its responsiveness and initial library of games. Whether consumers are willing to stand up for hours at a time to play Xbox games though remains to be seen.

If you’re a hardware geek and want to learn more, we suggest checking out the full teardown.

[via mashable]

Posted in: Kinect,Tip,XBox 360