Tweet
Microsoft Kinect(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET)
Microsoft's Kinect motion-gaming peripheral, which launched yesterday, has already been torn apart by the folks over at iFixit, who have revealed some rather interesting components inside the device.
iFixit, a DIY repair site, was apparently quite surprised by what is packed into the relatively small Kinect. The site said the device boasts so many built-in sensors, that only the Pleo dinosaur robot comes close to matching it. And due to how "mechanically complex" the device is, iFixit believes it was "clearly designed by a team accustomed to designing large hardware, like theXbox."
Aside from a slew of sensors, iFixit found four microphones in the Kinect. The device includes two infrared cameras for "depth detection" and "one standard visual-spectrum camera used for visual recognition."
(Credit:iFixit)
In addition, the Kinect boasts a motor and a three-axis accelerometer "to increase the accuracy of the panning motor."
But it os the Kinect Prime Sense PS1080-A2 that makes the device work. According to iFixit, the Kinect's sensors are connected to the Prime Sense PS1080-A2 to be processed "before transmitting a refined depth map and color image to the Xbox."
Overall, iFixit gave the Kinect a 6 out of 10 for "repairability," saying that fixing the Kinect without a service manual "will be quite a challenge."
Microsoft's Kinect launched yesterday to much fanfare. For now, the device is still available in some locations, but how long before it's sold out is anyone's guess. Microsoft expects to sell 5 million Kinect units by year's end amid its competition in the motion-gaming space with Sony'sPlayStation Move and theNintendo Wii.
Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds