Alex Kipman

Photograph by ImagineCup

Creating a device that turns anyone into a human game controller for the Xbox began with one surprising task, says Alex Kipman: "I had to get wicked, wicked smart people to assume stupidity from day one." The Brazilian-born director of incubation and his team needed to account for the near-infinite ways ("10 to the 23rd," he estimates) that people look, speak, and move. Since its release in November, Kinect -- which consists of a depth sensor, microphones, and a motion camera tracking 20 points on the body in three-dimensional space--has inspired not only sales (some 10 million units) but also excitement among tinkerers who will soon have a Kinect software-development kit to advance their pet projects in, say, robotics or 3-D mapping. "This is a new era," says Kipman, "and it's going to require a ton of pioneering, a ton of innovation, and a ton of incubation. That's not going to happen all within Microsoft."

Kinect for Xbox 360

Paging Dr. Awesome: Kinect Hack Lets Surgeons Play with Robots

The Best Kinect Hack Yet: Moullineaux’s New Music Video

Q: What does your typical day look like?

A:
7:00 to 9:00 a.m.: prep for opening Keynote of Imagine Cup
9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Create
12:30 to 1:00 p.m.: Travel time
1:00 to 2:30 p.m.: Lunch with Ron Howard and Brian Grazer
2:30 to 3:00 p.m.: Travel time
3:00 to 4:00 p.m.: Phone sync with NASA JPL
4:00 to 5:00 p.m.: Meeting - Daily heartbeat for team
5:00 to 6:00 p.m.: Design Critique on secret project A
6:00 to 8:00 p.m.: Brainstorm / working design session for project B
8:00 to 10:00 p.m.: Create
10:00 to done: Catch up on email and other "daily tax" items

Kipman explains how Kinect's motion controller turns your body into a joystick.

1/ The human figure is separated from the surrounding room and furniture. 2/ Kinect discerns body parts, regardless of the player's height or weight. 3/ Finally, Kinect creates a virtual skeleton to control the video game.

Illustration by Chris Philpot

Q: What conference or gathering do you find most inspiring?

A: Burning Man. I have gone for many years. Met the most inspiring people, art and environment and it's about as cleansing creatively as you can get. Few things in life give you an opportunity to leave everything behind and go back to a primitive, analog and non-technologic state. This is a source of creativity like no other.

"Software is the only art form in existence that is not bound by the confines of physics. You are only ever bound and constrained by lack of imagination. I love that!"

Facebook

Music:: Avril Lavigne

Bob Marley

Black Eyed Peas

Lady Gaga

Katy Perry

Eminem

Gwen Stefani
Events:: E3 Expo2011
Los Angeles Convention Center
6-5-2011 - 6-11-2011
Status: attending
Groups:: Project Natal

Software Engineering @ RIT

Inspirations from Binah

Twitter

Linked In

General Manager of Incubation - Xbox | Greater Seattle Area

Summary:

In his present role, Alex Kipman leads the Incubation effort in the Interactive Entertainment Business and is responsible for design and development of disruptive products that support the division’s strategy and vision. These products include Xbox and Kinect. Kipman played an instrumental role as one of the fathers of Kinect. Having started the program, Kipman helped create the vision, led the design across hardware, software and experiences, and recruited and developed an exceptionally talented team. Arriving at Microsoft fresh out of RIT and after spending time at NASA and RSA Security, in 2001 Kipman began his career working on the first release of .NET and the CLR. Shortly afterward, he drove the design of the first Microsoft and Visual Studio build system: MSBuild. He then created an Incubation team within Windows where he created the first version of Windows to combine consumer and enterprise in what is known today as Windows Ultimate Edition.

Specialties:

Focus: Focuses on maintaining the resource - in the form of creative freedom - to innovate in a corporate context with lots of inertia Ambiguity: Innovates new processes as needed for every project but always crystal clear on principles guiding the initiative Time: Multiple sessions to create the founding principles before beginning on solution design Starting point: Future vision, not current state of affairs

Connections:

275+

Positions:

General Manager of Incubation - Xbox at Microsoft
General Manager of Incubation at Microsoft - Xbox