Microsoft has posted the beta of the Kinect SDK. The kit gives the raw video streams and access to the technology normally used on the Xbox 360, such as detecting body shapes, audio direction, and speech recognition. It includes “hundreds” of pages of help as well as samples of what could be done, such as those it showed at MIX earlier in the year.
Among the examples have been navigating a powered chair with hands, direction finding for the blind, and Windows games.
The kit is intended for individual experimenters, academics, and others who want to develop apps that could use the motion controller. Microsoft stressed that it was a non-commercial license. A version for commercial use was coming, Microsoft said, but it didn’t say when.
