Microsoft Kinect

Microsoft's Kinect motion-gaming peripheral, which launched yesterday, has already been torn apart by the folks over at iFixit, who have revealed some rather interesting components inside the device.

iFixit, a DIY repair site, was apparently quite surprised by what is packed into the relatively small Kinect. The site said the device boasts so many built-in sensors, that only the Pleo dinosaur robot comes close to matching it. And due to how "mechanically complex" the device is, iFixit believes it was "clearly designed by a team accustomed to designing large hardware, like the Xbox."

Aside from a slew of sensors, iFixit found four microphones in the Kinect. The device includes two infrared cameras for "depth detection" and "one standard visual-spectrum camera used for visual recognition."

Microsoft&39's Kinect in pieces, thanks to iFixit.

In addition, the Kinect boasts a motor and a three-axis accelerometer "to increase the accuracy of the panning motor."

But it os the Kinect Prime Sense PS1080-A2 that makes the device work. According to iFixit, the Kinect's sensors are connected to the Prime Sense PS1080-A2 to be processed "before transmitting a refined depth map and color image to the Xbox."

Overall, iFixit gave the Kinect a 6 out of 10 for "repairability," saying that fixing the Kinect without a service manual "will be quite a challenge."

Microsoft's Kinect launched yesterday to much fanfare. For now, the device is still available in some locations, but how long before it's sold out is anyone's guess. Microsoft expects to sell 5 million Kinect units by year's end amid its competition in the motion-gaming space with Sony's PlayStation Move and the Nintendo Wii.