Johnny 5 is alive! No disassemble! Sadly, no one listened to poor Johnny and so we see the Kinect fully torn down from stem to stern. This little fellow contains two nice webcam cameras, four microphones, and processing power enough to accept other audio inputs as well. Interestingly, there’s also an accelerometer to tell where the device is pointing. This thing is so complex it needs its own fan for cooling.
Writes iFixIt:
The design is very modular, and replacing individual components (like the motor) when they fail shouldn’t be a problem. No soldering required to disassemble.
Cons:
Microsoft used four kinds of screws, including some hated security bits: T6, T10, T10 security, and Phillips #0.
Without a service manual, repair will be quite a challenge. Microsoft has not made a service manual available. If we get enough demand, we’ll do their work for them and publish one.