Posted by Rob Knies

Over the last few months, I’ve published a series of feature stories to outline the contributions Microsoft Research has made to the groundbreaking Kinect for Xbox 360 product, which Guinness World Records has dubbed the fastest-selling consumer electronic device ever.

This week, the Kinect team is marking the one-year anniversary of Kinect. With that in mind, I offer this compendium of articles that outline the contributions Microsoft Research has made to the product, involving researchers from Microsoft Research Redmond, Microsoft Research Asia, Microsoft Research Cambridge, and Microsoft Research Silicon Valley:

• Kinect Audio: Preparedness Pays Off: As Microsoft prepared to release a non-commercial Kinect for Windows software-development kit, Ivan Tashev of Microsoft Research Redmond explains how the stellar audio functionality included in Kinect came to be.
• Kinect Body Tracking Reaps Renown: Work from Microsoft Research Cambridge proved integral to the skeleton-tracking capabilities of Kinect, helping that product become a technological sensation.
• Helping Kinect Recognize Faces: Microsoft Research Asia scientists Jian Sun and Yichen Wei provided identity-recognition research to help Kinect distinguish among multiple players.
• Silicon Valley’s Kinect Contributions: Two researchers from Microsoft Research Silicon Valley recall their participation in the work that helped to bring Kinect to market.
  

“The incredible partnership between the Kinect team and Microsoft Research,” says Alex Kipman, general manager for Incubation for Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, “has allowed us to make tomorrow happen today.”

For even more about the research underpinning Kinect, please visit our dedicated webpage.