IDF2012: Intel to release Perceptual Computing SDK

Several speakers at this year’s Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco have made reference to a new software product from the hardware corporation, the Intel Perceptual Computing SDK.

Announced in David ‘Dadi’ Perlmutter’s day-one keynote, this software development kit was developed in conjunction with Creative and SoftKinetic.

An SDK is not a consumer product, but a set of tools, documentation and example material that software developers can make use of to design their own applications for a specific platform, or using a specific technology.

Kirk Skaugen, VP and general manager of Intel’s PC Client Group gave us the details.

The SDK will provide developers with tools for:
* Face analysis and tracking
* Finger tracking (by camera, not by touch)
* Close range hand gesture recognition for both static hand poses and moving gestures
* Voice processing – speech command recognition and voice dictation
* 2D and 3D object tracking

These tools are designed to work with Intel’s close-range infrared gesture tracking camera, which works much like Microsoft’s Kinect but is designed to work in much closer proximity. Where the Kinect is designed to detect objects and motion from across a room, Intel’s stereoscopic camera detects objects and motions directly in front of the computer screen it’s mounted atop.

The SDK is available in beta from October 2012, and the camera will be available to software developers from the same time for US$149. Intel engineers we spoke to suggested that New Zealand developers would be able to purchase the camera to use with the SDK, but may require a US shipping address to do so during the beta period.

This will provide an alternative product to Microsoft’s Kinect SDK, which has been available since mid-2011.

Harley Ogier is attending IDF 2012 as a guest of Intel.