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Microsoft's Hand-Gesture Sensor Bracelet
another random user tips this quote from the BBC:
"A wrist-worn sensor that creates 3D-models of the user's hand movements in real-time has been built by Microsoft. The Digits prototype is part of an effort to create a mobile device that would allow its owner to control a range of equipment using hand gestures. The firm said it could be used as a virtual TV control, a way to operate a smartphone while it is in the user's pocket, and to play video games. It is designed to be less cumbersome and uncomfortable than sensor gloves. However, some experts question whether consumers would want to wear such a device during their day-to-day activities."
ACM has the research paper (PDF) describing this device and its use.
However, some experts question whether consumers would want to wear such a device during their day-to-day activities.
If you showed those same "experts" the bulky brick style cell phones lots of people carried in the mid-90's, they'd probably also question whether anyone would bother to lug such a thing around, while doing their day-to-day activities. Especially since all they did was take phone calls. But hey, if you can't make something cool, piss on what somebody else is doing, right?
A Ring would be so much better. One ring to rule all my appliances,
Like people who do the bluetooth headset thing while walking down the street don't look like tools as it is. Let's just throw in hand gestures for good measure! Yay society!
P.S. How on earth are we going to separate the crazies from people who are just on the phone now?!! :)
AirSpeak - http://itunes.com/apps/AirSpeak
Oh, c'mon. You thought it too.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
I just took it to the next level.
Take a close look at the 2 images. The CGI doesn't match the finger position.
And it doesn't have to, either. It's actually probably better that it doesn't: you want the matches to be close enough to the correct gesture, rather than the exact gesture itself, as exact matching would create endless frustration for the user. Rough matching, OTOH, if done decently well, is vastly easier to use. That's why speech recognition is so hard for computers: because humans don't pronounce the same word the exact same way every time (well, that and some words sound identical).
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
You know, you'd probably get used to it ... and it will probably get smaller over time.
But, as someone with a fair few wrist watches, I actually have a watch that weighs in at around 300 grams, and one or two that weigh in at around 200 grams.
It takes surprisingly little time to go from "holy crap is this thing heavy" to not even noticing it.
And, in this case, you can go around pointing your wrist like Spider Man going *pchew* *pchew*. At least, I would. ;-)
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
....the droids you're looking for.
You know, you'd probably get used to it ... and it will probably get smaller over time.
I'm sure you are right, but it seems like the distance of the camera off of the wrist is essential to get a good view of the fingers, which would limit the ability to make it flush like a watch band. I think a camera embedded where your eyes are will be the most intuitive to the user - it sees what you see, more or less, so it's easy to aim and understand why it is or isn't working well.
even the "experts" apparently aren't reading TFA.
He added that the prototype had been built using existing off-the-shelf components, but there was scope to improve the equipment with customised parts.
"Ultimately we would like to reduce Digits to the size of a watch that can be worn all the time," he said.
Lots of people wear watches all the time - so when they can get it down to watch size (not if, when, given the way miniaturization of computers, cameras, etc. has progressed), I don't see any reason to suppose that people would find wearing a gesture sensor to be a burden.
And, for that matter, since the actual workings of a digital watch are tiny now, the gesture sensor could also be a watch.
Who would EVER want to wear some kind of useful device on their WRIST? That's just crazy talk!
This have the same problems than speech recognition, you say/do something that is not meant for the computer/program, and it does something that you don't mean to do. At least in Star Trek they had the "Computer" prefix in phrases meant for the computer, but adding a prefix for gestures could make their use more complex.
And, of course, doing it in public will have the problem when people is not the intended target for the gesture/speech, and if well you could use low volume (or subvocalization?) in voice, gestures should be broad enough to be able to tell them apart from i.e. casual changes of position. And innocent gestures for one culture could be very offensive for others.
Wow, way to put that arrow in the dirt about 30ft short.
The kinect has already been used in a crazy array of stuff Microsoft didn't even imagine, and this is obviously a prototype that you could pack into a much smaller device... already making it far more useful than it appears now, in a photo, to someone with zero imagination.
But do try again on the next one.
Stirring hot grits motion?
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling