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A No-Touching 3D Computer Interface

Posted by timothy on from the in-development dept.

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."

6 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. I'm so sorry... by pHus10n · · Score: 5, Funny

    "...the user simply waves their hand above it in the air..." These are not the droids you're looking for.

  2. If my experience with a Theremin means anything... by nani+popoki · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... 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.

  3. 5ft x 5ft x 5ft mouse pad? by eatvegetables · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Honey, look at this cool 5ft x 5ft x 5ft mouse pad that I just bought for our laptop!

    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.

  4. Touch interface fitness required by worip · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Your arms are going to get tired very quickly using this interface... Maybe we should rather work on perfecting those mind control interfaces.

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    1. Re:Touch interface fitness required by Fred_A · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Your arms are going to get tired very quickly using this interface...

      Of course not, now you don't have to hold that heavy 5 gram light pen. No more gorilla arm syndrome !
      This guy is a genius !

      Um, wait.

      Do the people who keep on re-inventing those interfaces actually ever ponder why each previous instance failed ?

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  5. infuriatingly still by camperdave · · Score: 4, Funny

    For years radios had been operated by means of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive--you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same program.

    From The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams.

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