Azure Kinect SDK is unmaintained.

Fred Man 5

The azure kinect hardware is still in wide use in the community, but the SDK support has effectively completely halted since 2020 and no one is responding to the tickets: https://github.com/microsoft/Azure-Kinect-Sensor-SDK I think it's pretty clear why - the hardware is getting old and the hololens program has mostly wound down at microsoft.

The robotics community would be happy to take on the maintenance burden for the SDK, but a few components of the SDK and the device firmware remain closed. If microsoft open sourced at the very least the depthengine library, open source developers could fork the SDK and continue to support this well loved hardware. Please help!

AshokPeddakotla-MSFT 27,976 Reputation points

2023-06-12T12:01:59.3466667+00:00

Fred Man I understand your concern about the lack of support for the Azure Kinect Sensor SDK.

We are checking on this issue internally and circle back at the possible earliest time.
Fred Man 5 Reputation points

2023-06-15T05:34:18.8733333+00:00

Thanks Ashok. I appreciate the acknowledgement.
Fred Man 5 Reputation points

2023-06-15T06:00:04.4366667+00:00

I filed a similar request within the project itself (https://github.com/microsoft/Azure-Kinect-Sensor-SDK/issues/1933), but I don't think anyone is looking at open issues anymore.
Fred Man 5 Reputation points

2023-07-19T00:33:51.08+00:00

Any follow up here?
Fred Man 5 Reputation points

2023-07-19T00:34:22.5266667+00:00

@ashokpeddakotla-msft any follow up here?
AshokPeddakotla-MSFT 27,976 Reputation points

2023-07-19T07:27:32.5066667+00:00

Fred Man We are still waiting for an update from our team on this ask. Appreciate your time and patience.
Fred Man 5 Reputation points

2023-08-13T06:57:24.4933333+00:00

This helps a little, but it's not really an answer for maintenance of the existing hardware. Users who already bought the hardware are somewhat stuck right now. The depth engine, because it's released as a binary, has to be distributed for each operating system. Right now, the last release was on ubuntu 18.04 ( https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/18.04/prod/pool/main/libk/ ). I think I understand why the internal firmware of the device can't be distributed - this is somewhat what I expected. The depth engine itself though is entirely microsoft's code, and is the only part preventing open source developers from keeping this hardware working on future operating system distributions.

Can we get some way for external users to rebuild the depth engine? Although there are no plans, can one be made to open source this component? Future OS support is not possible without some way to update this. If the answer is definitely no, can we get some notice placed on the github repository that this project is dead and will not be supported on any future OS distributions. It's in a confusing state right now.
Fred Man 5 Reputation points

2023-08-15T11:26:17.9466667+00:00

I appreciate the update. I think this is helpful for some users who want an alternative depth camera solution, but it leaves current users of the azure kinect in a difficult spot.

I think it makes sense to me why the device firmware of the kinect cannot be open sourced, and technically this isn't a blocker to keeping the hardware working for a long while. However, the depth engine is a problem. It's just not possible for open source developers to recompile this for different linux distributions. Although there are no plans to open source the depth engine component, can it be considered? I think open source developers like myself would be happy to help here. All isers who spent the 400$ dollars are basically totally stuck without a solution here otherwise.

If this is a total non-starter, can we get a proper notice on the kinect SDK github page indicating the project is dead and not to be maintained at all anymore because the closed source components cannot be updated? There's a growing list of issues each day, none of which are getting addressed right now, and it would be useful to have a wholesale "end of life" for the whole repository rather than having all issues effectively get no response for the rest of time.
AshokPeddakotla-MSFT 27,976 Reputation points

2023-08-17T15:16:39.1866667+00:00

Fred Man I have already shared the feedback with team. Our team will share more details through blogpost and there is no exact ETA which we can share now.
Fred Man 5 Reputation points

2023-08-17T21:31:16.5566667+00:00

Thanks. Which blog are you talking about?
Fred Man 5 Reputation points

2023-08-17T21:32:08.8466667+00:00

Thanks. Which blog are you talking about?
AshokPeddakotla-MSFT 27,976 Reputation points

2023-08-21T05:04:00.95+00:00

Fred Man I will share here once the blogpost is ready and published.
Darren 0 Reputation points

2023-10-05T17:47:21.4833333+00:00

Please give a status update. There are many of us waiting on this issue.
AshokPeddakotla-MSFT 27,976 Reputation points

2023-10-11T01:15:01.43+00:00

Darren Please stay tuned for further updates. We have already shared the feedback with respective teams and awaiting for an update.

Thanks for understanding.

2 answers

AshokPeddakotla-MSFT 27,976 Reputation points

2023-07-25T16:06:53.0866667+00:00

Fred Man Thanks for your time and patience on this issue.

I have checked on this issue internally and below is an update. Hope this helps.

The Depth Engine algorithm is Microsoft IP, and we currently have no plans to open-source this component. The firmware of Azure Kinect DK is authored by a 3<sup>rd</sup> party (Vendor of the SoC used in AKDK) to requirements provided by Microsoft, I don't think we can open-source this code either. We've licensed our ToF technology to Analog Devices, they have sensors, module and dev kit offerings if someone wants a custom design: 3D Time of Flight (ToF) | Analog Devices Similarly, we've also partnered with Orbbec and they have a camera (available for purchase) using the same ToF Depth module as Azure Kinect DK: Femto Mega - ORBBEC - 3D Vision for a 3D World

Do let us know if you have any further queries.
Please sign in to rate this answer.

0 comments No comments
Sign in to comment
AshokPeddakotla-MSFT 27,976 Reputation points

2023-10-11T15:49:09.9366667+00:00

Fred Man, Darren

As mentioned earlier, here is the link to the AKDK Blog Post: Microsoft’s Azure Kinect Developer Kit Technology Transfers to Partner Ecosystem

Do let us know if you have any further queries.
Please sign in to rate this answer.
Darren 0 Reputation points

2023-10-15T19:31:12.6333333+00:00

Hi Ashok,

That blog post does not provide any information on this issue.

If you do not either commit to maintaining the depth engine component, or open-source it, then the whole Azure Kinect system is dead for 2 reasons:

It won't work with future releases of operating systems (because the depth engine is only available as a binary, and only for current operating systems)

If we can't turn off the temporal filter in the depth engine, the system is unsuitable for any scene where there is movement (which is not made clear anywhere in the SDK).

It seems to me that you have licensed dead-end technology to your partners; if I were them I would be considering a lawsuit.
Sign in to comment