Microsoft startup incubator yields real-world Kinect ideas

Microsoft's Kinect accelerator program, furnished by entrepreneurship incubator TechStars, recently gave 11 teams 13 weeks and $20,000 each to polish their motion-sensing ideas and present them to a team of investors this Thursday in Seattle. The startups range from a system that allows surgeons to navigate MRI and CT scans in the operating room, to an in-store camera system that tracks shoppers' behavior. Another turns any surface into a 3D, multi-touch screen for Windows.

Many of the startup ideas offer an attempt to bring Kinect into the wider, physical world, rather than limit it to living rooms and virtual baby tigers. Of the final creations, three are made for the medical field, four are based in tracking or innovating consumer behavior, two are animation-based, one can help athletes train and one is that awesome 3D surface app.

Microsoft is accepting applications for its fall 2012 accelerator class, Windows Azure and cloud-based startups, right here. Below check out the full descriptions of all 11 entrants, as provided by Microsoft.

• Freak'n Genius makes it possible for anyone to animate instantly using Kinect for Xbox.

• GestSure Technologies has developed a device that allows surgeons to navigate patient MRI and CT scans in the operating room while maintaining sterility.

• Developed while coaching some of the most elite athletes in the world, IKKOS is changing the way the world learns movement by using Kinect. The product aims to assist athletes in performing better than they thought possible through teaching physical movement faster than traditional methods. The product is also being validated to teach stroke patients how to regain movement with Dr. Richard Macko, director at the Veterans Administration Center of Excellence for Exercise & Robotics in Maryland.

• Kimetric uses Kinect for Windows sensors strategically placed across a store to gather useful data, helping a retailer better understand consumer behavior and, at the same time, allowing the creation of a new interactive shopping experience for customers.

• Jintronix uses Kinect for Windows to track a patient's movements as he or she performs rehabilitation within a virtual environment, increasing accessibility and engagement while lowering cost. Jintronix uses the depth-sensing and gesture technology of Kinect for Windows to improve healthcare and rehabilitation.

• Manctl seeks to bring 3-D capture to the masses by producing 3-D scanning software solutions based on consumer-grade depth

• sensors such as Kinect for Windows. With their main product Skanect, French co-founders Nicolas Burrus and Nicolas Tisserand challenge other expensive and complex 3-D scanning solutions by offering a cost-effective way of producing real-world 3-D models of people, places and things.

• NConnex is designed to allow for 3-D room scanning using Kinect for Windows. Their product, NConnex Designer, allows users to digitally place furniture in their homes and get a feel for sense of space before purchasing.

• Based in Los Angeles, Styku is empowering consumers to "try before they buy" using a virtual fitting room technology enabled with

• Kinect for Windows.

• ubi interactive can turn any surface into a 3-D, multitouch screen with Kinect for Windows.

• Voxon, based in New York, is developing the first open hardware reference designs and standards for "voxie" volumetric 3-D movie capture and display with the introduction of the VoxieCam, VoxieStage and VoxieBox. The founders are eager to release these kits into the creative community so visual artists, makers and game designers can begin building experiences that will usher the public into the volumetric age of "holographic" entertainment and education.

• Zebcare uses Kinect for Windows to monitor the well-being of seniors in real time, without the use of images or video. Zebcare provides ongoing reassurance that loved ones are active and well.