Creative Developments for Xbox 360s Kinect

A diverse group of hobbyists and academics from around the world are embracing the possibilities of Kinect for Xbox 360. And in waves of creativity, inventors are developing exciting and creative applications in healthcare, education and rehabilitation.

The Lakeside Center for Autism in Seattle uses Kinect in their work with Autistic children to help improve communication skills, social interaction and language development.

Tedesys is creating a Kinect-enabled application to help hospitals in Spain create safer operating rooms. Applications like this may help surgeons in the near future use gestures and voice to view patient charts and scans without the need to scrub out or break the sterile field.

Royal Berkshire Hospital in the UK works with stroke patients to use Kinect's controller-free environment for rehabilitation.

In addition, Microsoft announced a Kinect for Windows commercial software developer kit will be available early next year. Microsoft's pilot program received more than 200 applications to participate from leading businesses, including 25 Fortune 500 companies, spanning more than 20 countries and 25 industries. Early pilot partners include Toyota, Razorfish and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.