Hacking the Kinect

[SiliconIce]

A $2000 bounty: 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/

Microsoft is displeased:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-20021836-52.html

But Microsoft isn't taking kindly to the bounty offer. "Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products," a company spokesperson told CNET. "With Kinect, Microsoft built in numerous hardware and software safeguards designed to reduce the chances of product tampering. Microsoft will continue to make advances in these types of safeguards and work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant."

ifixit has a teardown with pics posted: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft-Kinect-Teardown/4066/1

I think I may add a board for Kinect to the Tech forums.

SiliconIce

[SiliconIce]

Someone working on it here:

https://github.com/qdot/libkinect

[inspuration]

There is probably some sort of crypto handshake between the 360 and kinect over usb.

[SiliconIce]

Big picture, how it works: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/11/tonights-release-xbox-kinect-how-does-it-work/

[SiliconIce]

There is probably some sort of crypto handshake between the 360 and kinect over usb.

That sounds like some good speculation; someone will confirm or disprove that shortly I have a feeling.

[danthaman]

Couldn't be too much crypto(past a handshake) surely as that would contribute to lag. Apparently it's Isochronous using it's own protocol, I bet one packet audio,one packet kinect data (Maybe)
If it's using 360 unmodified USB IO then it couldn't be too wild. In the past they've managed to keep others from manufacturing normal 360 controllers with the M$ HID-ID (AFAIK) Why would they bother (going big-time crypto) when they can probably chase-down 'breaches' (eg; knock-offs) in court.

[yifanlu]

Is the code for the 360 to interface with the kinect in the kernel, or is it in some random .xex library stored on the HDD/flash?

[inspuration]

Kinect xex's import the files NuiApi.h and NuiApi.lib. I havn't debugged a kinect xex yet, but that would probably yield the information you are looking for.

[52aces]

Does the kinect itself do any converting or processing of the data?
Or does it just spit out the raw data?
as in depth and color.

Does it for example follow the person itself? or does it send data to the xbox which then commands the kinect to move?

[SiliconIce]

Kinect xex's import the files NuiApi.h and NuiApi.lib. I havn't debugged a kinect xex yet, but that would probably yield the information you are looking for.

Any idea what the API provides?

[scopen4]

Looks like this guy is actively working on it:

http://twitter.com/joshblake

[CLK Rebellion]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/07/kinect-does-hackers-bidding-but-not-for-fortune-or-fame-video/

[scopen4]

Color/Depth sensors working under Windows 7 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18vSblw5SNk&feature=player_embedded

[jowadmax]

Color/Depth sensors working under Windows 7 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18vSblw5SNk&feature=player_embedded

this video looks fake because the camera man is moving towards kinect while kinect sees standing man that is not moving.

[scopen4]

Color/Depth sensors working under Windows 7 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18vSblw5SNk&feature=player_embedded

this video looks fake because the camera man is moving towards kinect while kinect sees standing man that is not moving.

The same guy in the video is also the guy who created the driver for the PS3 Eye-Toy. Source Below.

Source: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/11154/

[scopen4]

Update:

Color and 3D Depth sensing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPUkueinGK4&feature=player_embedded

After a great response from the community we have started a fund to open source our research related to the Microsoft’s new Xbox Kinect device. You can learn more on the project overview page or join the discussion. We started a $10,000 fund to complete driver specifications and software for the Xbox Kinect Audio, Color/Depth Cameras and Motor/Accelerometer.

We want to help the community and accelerate Kinect support on Linux/Mac/Windows as well as provide clear documentation. We see huge potential of the Kinect’s influence on robotics and computer vision and upon completion we will release our code with an open source license (Considering BSD/LGPL/MIT). We hope the fund completes quickly and if not we still have plans on releasing a Free Windows Driver and SDK just like we have done in the past with the PS3 Eye devices.

According to this Adafruit blog article there is already $3000 available and we will work with them and see if we can make something happen. We are not looking to make money but believe a properly funded project will bring us great results and help us all faster access the full capabilities of the sensors as well as foster future developments such as 3D mapping/tracking.

Stay tuned to our project page for updates...

Help fund this project by donating...
View the latest progress...

-AlexP

[neonpolaris]

This seems to be progressing pretty rapidly.

I have one question, though.  What purpose would an accelerometer have in the Kinect?  Perhaps it was put in there being forward thinking (for future use), but I can't come up with anything more useful than being able to sense if were mounted upside to flip the camera image.  This alone would be accomplished at a lower cost by using a simple switch, like the sensor inside the 360 itself.  Anyone have an idea for a use of this?

[leorimolo]

Wow, I am really exited to get this on a NXT robot! f*** imagine being able to actually see where you are going, and be able to detect humans etc...

[dschu012]

This seems to be progressing pretty rapidly.

I have one question, though.  What purpose would an accelerometer have in the Kinect?  Perhaps it was put in there being forward thinking (for future use), but I can't come up with anything more useful than being able to sense if were mounted upside to flip the camera image.  This alone would be accomplished at a lower cost by using a simple switch, like the sensor inside the 360 itself.  Anyone have an idea for a use of this?

When using Kinect if you pick it up and move it, or if it is on a surface that vibrates, Kinect will notify you of such things happening. They likely use the accelerometer for purposes like that.

[scopen4]

LibFreenect - Open Source PC Drivers for Kinect

Marcan released the first Open Source Drivers for Kinect:

Horribly hacky first take at a Kinect Camera driver. Does RGB and Depth.

main.c implements a simple OpenGL visualization. Hopefully it should be mostly self-explanatory... You pretty much just open the USB device, call cams_init(dev, depthimg, rgbimg), and your depthimg and rgbimg callbacks getcalled as libusb processes events.

Download: http://git.marcansoft.com/?p=libfreenect.git