Slashdot Mirror
A No-Touching 3D Computer Interface
Justin Schunick points out a video demonstration of a 3D input system which senses the user's hand position, but without requiring the user to touch a controller or wear a trackable position indicator. From the provided description: "Utilizing the theory of electrostatics, we have designed a low-cost human-computer interface device that has the ability to track the position of a user's hand in three dimensions. Physical contact is not required and the user does not need to hold a controller or attach markers to their body. To control the device, the user simply waves their hand above it in the air."
Good, I didn't want all those damn dirty, germ ridden, greasy fingerprints all over my nice shiny monitor.
Why save your soul when you can sell it for a profit?
... then maybe a no-touch interface is not going to work well for me. I found the Theremin to be almost impossible to play because there was no way to get my hand in exactly the same x-y-z coordinate and with the same roll-yaw-pitch attitude (all of which affected the frequency of the oscillator). YMMV, of course.
Interesting from a tech, nerd perspective I suppose. However, a web cam and a computer vision gesture control app can produce the same effect much more efficiently.
Your arms are going to get tired very quickly using this interface... Maybe we should rather work on perfecting those mind control interfaces.
A picture is worth exactly 1024 words.
I don't know about everyone else, but holding my hands anywhere in free space takes quite a bit of energy unless they are hanging at my sides. The reason the keyboard and mouse or other touch surfaces work well is because they allow a person to rest their limbs in an unnatural position.
So I am not sure about anything that doesn't allow a person to rest... it'd be like using a whiteboard all day long, and that is quite tiring!
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