[Noisebridge-discuss] kinect sdk from microsoft research released

Mike Schachter mike at mindmech.com
Fri Jun 17 18:48:36 UTC 2011


As I mentioned to David offline - the fact that they have skeleton
tracking implemented implies that they're using the random forest
training algorithms published in this paper:

http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/145347/BodyPartRecognition.pdf

The important part of their algorithm is the dataset - they have created
a huge dataset of real and synthetic body-tagged human motions. Random
forests aren't a big deal, they're easy to train and use. The dataset is
what makes the skeleton tagging good. The Microsoft researchers
are most likely using this dataset for their API. That does not preclude
better algorithms from coming out, of course.

Also freenect's audio support is lacking. The MS api provides for
sound localization using the kinect's array of microphones.

Ideally the freenect team will start reverse engineering the MS api
and improve things even further :)

  mike

On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 11:25 AM, Jonathan Foote <jtfoote at ieee.org> wrote:
> More feedback on the Kinect SDK restrictions from Phil Torrone, who
> speaks pretty authoritatively for the DIY community:
>
> http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/06/things-you-cant-do-with-the-microsoft-kinect-sdk.html
>
> TL;DR -- "Why would anyone want to use the Microsoft SDK when the open
> source drivers are out there and you can build a business and company
> around them? AND use them with non-Windows system[s]?"
>
> Having said that, I have pals at Microsoft Research around the world,
> they are sharp people and do great work,
> but looks like this kind of BS is in the corporate DNA.
>
>
> On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 2:16 PM, David Molnar <dmolnar at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 1:20 PM, Jonathan Foote <jtfoote at ieee.org> wrote:
>>> @qdot on Twitter has been looking at the Kinect SDK code license,
>>> looks like typical M$ lockdown BS:
>>>
>>> "Wow. You can't even copy the #kinectsdk RUNTIMES. No redist of
>>> applications in full, period. Everyone has to DL SDK.
>>> http://j.mp/mzIs9N"
>>>
>>> " RT @marcan42 They also have an expiration date of June 16, 2013. No
>>> guarantee that you'll still be able to use the SDK after that."
>>
>> Thanks for pointing out this feedback. If you see other things that
>> would prevent you from using the SDK, or other comments really, please
>> let me know. I do not work on the SDK but I can forward to others.
>>
>> David
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