The word "Kinect" is a portmanteau of “kinetics” and “connect.” It uses video and audio data collected by its camera and microphone as input to the Xbox. Kinect is a controller that is able to control the game system by distinguishing a user's gestures, voice commands, facial characteristics, skeletal data and full body motions. Gaming applications are able to recognize individual players with the help of skeletal data and identify each player by name and other features.

In addition to its use with Xbox, Kinect is also being used in research in fields such as IT health, education, home automation and in health technology with helping patients in doing chores.