Since being released in 2010, the Kinect has had a strange life. Originally known as Project Natal, and shown off as the future of interfacing with a computer, it never really took off in the way some expected. It was, in the hindsight we now have seven years later, a somewhat clunky and slow foray into a world where computers can recognise human bodies and motion, in a consumer-friendly setting.

Following on from the Nintendo Wii's relatively cheap introduction to motion controls, the Kinect was able to track the entire body (in the right setting), using that to control a computer. The original Kinect mostly worked with games, with exaggerated movements meaning it could easily track you, or dancing games that looked for your body in specific shapes.

From there, though, it found a home in robotics, museums, and amateur computing projects. By February 2013, it had sold 24 million units, but now, 7 years on, Microsoft are ending production of the Kinect, as reported by Co.Design.

Revealed in an exclusive interview with Alex Kipman, creator of the Kinect, and Matthew Lapsen, GM of Xbox Devices Marketing, the Kinect has ceased production now, although its technology lives on in other forms. The core sensor, which Co.Design have revealed a previously unannounced v5 version of, is one of the technologies used in the Microsoft Hololens, Microsoft's ambitious take on the world of augmented reality.