The Open Kinect Project and prize

[johnboxall]

The team at adafruit industries will give US$2000 to the first person who can release open-source drivers, etc., for the Microsoft XBOX 360 Kinect device. More information here:

http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/11/04/the-open-kinect-project-the-ok-prize-get-1000-bounty-for-kinect-for-xbox-360-open-source-drivers/

[Mechatrommer]

coooool! where to get the device sensor? how many has sending in they entry? i dont want to be outrun while i bought this thing, i'm guessing it will be $$$ for the device?

[cybergibbons]

It costs about £130 in the UK.

This won't be a simple task of just working out that it communicates using SPI or I2C like a lot of hacks. I can imagine MS have spent a lot of effort making this hard to use.

[johnboxall]

It costs about £130 in the UK.

This won't be a simple task of just working out that it communicates using SPI or I2C like a lot of hacks. I can imagine MS have spent a lot of effort making this hard to use.

Absolutely. There is probably a room full of techies at Microsoft busy right now - half working on their next firmware update, and the other half trying to crack it to look for 'holes'.

[Mechatrommer]

It costs about £130 in the UK.
This won't be a simple task of just working out that it communicates using SPI or I2C like a lot of hacks. I can imagine MS have spent a lot of effort making this hard to use.

i got the ad in ebay $200++. my fear would be:
1) the serial comm is greater than 100Mbps, which is the limit of rigol
2) encrypted. ha! this one will crack up every bit of our head skin.

just make a quick google on the device spec, i can see 3 cameras in front, or maybe 2 cameras + 1 distance sensor. but i never saw such distance sensor that can track the whole frame (640x480) at once. i'm guess they using body recognition AI algorithm using those cameras only (RGB 2D planes) to generate 3D motion plane. by the price point only, i dont think it is a real distance sensor. such sensor alone will cost thousand i think. just a speculation

[Mechatrommer]

and makes me thinking. if they (adafruit) want to make it easier for us to do the hack, why dont they just publish the internal circuitry of the thing? so we will know what we are dealing beforehand? if i buy that sensor and turned out its impossible to hack, then... i need to buy the xbox to make it useful? another

[migsantiago]

If I had one Kinect, I'd try to hack it. But I'd not feel well served with $2,000 USD.

It's like the wiimote, there are plenty of softwares that make use of it.

The Kinect works via USB. The hacking has to be done there in order to use it with any USB enabled host.

[Polossatik]

and makes me thinking. if they (adafruit) want to make it easier for us to do the hack, why dont they just publish the internal circuitry of the thing? so we will know what we are dealing beforehand? if i buy that sensor and turned out its impossible to hack, then... i need to buy the xbox to make it useful? another

the whole point is just that noone has the schematics. See the teardown here for some info on the used tech. http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft-Kinect-Teardown/4066/3

Also note that the Kinetic seams to draw more power than a standard usb port can deliver...

Some Usefull coments are found here http://hackaday.com/2010/11/04/kilobuck-open-kinect-project-prize/#comments

[mikeselectricstuff]

Looks like iit uses structured  light for distance sensing - Primesense call it "light coding"
Looking at exactly what their IR illuminator  produces in time & space ought to give a lot of clues.
There are already a couple of Youtube vids - looks like it projects a 'starfield' type pattern, I guess through a holographic lens like the ones that sometimes come with laser pointers.

[Polossatik]

omeone got the motor and accelerometer going: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/11154/

[Mechatrommer]

the whole point is just that noone has the schematics. See the teardown here for some info on the used tech. http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft-Kinect-Teardown/4066/3

just exactly what i need! like i'm going to do the hack!

omeone got the motor and accelerometer going: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/11154/

think that guy is going to win!

[ChrisGammell]

Was watching Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and saw they were demoing the thing. Pretty fun looking! (Sorry, couldn't get the video embedded)

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/video/microsoft-xbox-kinect-demo-11410/1258190/

[johnboxall]

Wow - bounty increased to US$3000... http://bit.ly/aAlYrM

[Mechatrommer]

using add-on device does not count?! the kinect is clearly noncompliance and possibly non applicable for PC USB port due to 12W power. bullshit!
they want it to be soft/firmware modded? just ask the China people do the x-ray scan. damned them!

[GeoffS]

And it looks as if the bounty will be claimed soon .
Slashdot article.

[Mechatrommer]

i think that video is the one made the ms responding denying it in the latest link by tronix. and hence increasing the bounty.

[johnboxall]

Well it's over! In less than a week. 
http://bit.ly/agMg4x

[Zad]

That's a LOT of cash AdaFruit are shelling out for 10 days publicity. I hope it is worth it.

[JohnS_AZ]

Aside from a thousand tech blogs, they got mentioned on Wired, cNet, TheStreet, ZDnet, Salon, SlashDot, PCmagazine, TechNewsDaily, and others. An absolutely brilliant marketing move. I think the advertising they got was worth a couple orders of magnitude more than the prize they are paying out. Again, brilliant.

[JohnS_AZ]

.... and today, Adafruit on CNN!!

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/11/12/kinect.hack/

I say again ... brilliant marketing.

[Mechatrommer]

Well it's over! In less than a week. 
http://bit.ly/agMg4x

dude! i havent buy the thing yet! let alone studying how to make open source code driver.

[mikeselectricstuff]

"We strongly encourage customers to use Kinect for Xbox 360 with their Xbox 360 to get the best experience possible."
I don't know who wrote this, but I get the feeling its thesort of pesron I'd struggle to avoid punching in the first minutes of meeting.
To think MS actually pays this dickhead.
 

[dmlandrum]

"We strongly encourage customers to use Kinect for Xbox 360 with their Xbox 360 to get the best experience possible."
I don't know who wrote this, but I get the feeling its thesort of pesron I'd struggle to avoid punching in the first minutes of meeting.
To think MS actually pays this dickhead.

Oh, it gets better than that:

“With Kinect, Microsoft built in numerous hardware and software safeguards designed to reduce the chances of product tampering. Microsoft will … work closely with law enforcement … to keep Kinect tamper-resistant.” (from http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/11/kinect-drivers/)

I love the use of the phrase "product tampering" as if the intention of this is to kill people, recalling the medication tampering scares of the eighties. It's a deliberately loaded phrase chosen by someone quite expert in PR.

[mikeselectricstuff]

It's a deliberately loaded phrase chosen by someone quite expert in PR.

yet completely clueless on technical and legal issues

[TheDirty]

This is pretty cool.  3d reconstruct of 2d image with depth data: