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The Leap Motion Controller is Sort of Like a Super Kinect (Video)
What the Leap Motion product (they only have one right now) does is allow you to control your computer with gestures. We're not talking about just jumping around, but "painting" on the screen with your fingers (or even chopsticks) with fine enough control that Autodesk and other drawing-orientd software vendors are working to make applications compatible with the Leap Motion Controller. And game developers? You bet! Lots of them -- and this is for a device that's not even supposed to start shipping until May 13. But, says CEO Michael Buckwald, they already have "hundreds of thousands of pre-orders," so it looks like they are developing a large market for developers (over 12,000 are in the Leap Motion developer program -- out of 50,000 who applied) so it's possible that Leap Motion could become a pretty big deal. (You can see the Leap Motion Controller in action at the end of the video.)
"How do you have something like the Kinect and not have patents all over something related that basically would prevent this, or at least cause it to have to license numerous patents? Missed opportunity indeed."
I am in the Leap developer program and I have one. But I am not an expert on the Kinect. From what I understand, the Kinect uses cameras and visible light to do passive motion detection. The Leap works very differently. It uses active infrared signals and a pair of infrared detectors to do its magic. Unlike the Kinect, its active area is limited to just above the desktop. But also unlike Kinect, they claim precision down to a few microns. I haven't tried to measure the accuracy of mine, but it's pretty darned accurate.
Also, using the SDK, you can (A) detect all 10 fingers, (B) the position of each finger, (C) the direction each finger is pointing, (D) the position and orientation of the palm, and (E) the relative curvature of the palm (e.g., the diameter of an imaginary ball in your hand).
It's pretty impressive. The question is how well it will be integrated into software. Like any "alternative" controller, implementation in an individual application might be sad or might be great. There is no way to tell in advance, and I am sure we will see some of each.
"While I'm all for new and exciting technology, I'm not sure I like having cameras around that can be hacked, and visual interfaces that may record motions I make that I do not intend to go into a computer."
The LEAP does not take pictures. It does not even contain a camera.
While it works kind of like a Kinect (in that they both use light), the similarity pretty much stops there.
I've checked it out some on their website. What you say is far from true.
The DUO guys aren't "ready to go *today*" at all! They're still in early development! They are WAY behind the LEAP.
This is what I learned from their website:
(A) They haven't decided (or announced) the degree to which it will be open source. They said so in a forum on their own website. So that part is still very much up in the air.
(B) DUO just finished building their development prototype. LEAP has had actual development units out for months. They have gone through 4 physical revisions, and many firmware revisions. Many developers have been actively developing for the LEAP for that same period. I happen to know because (disclaimer) I happen to be one of them. Nevertheless, I am not terribly biased toward the LEAP. I am simply reporting the facts as I see them.
(C) The LEAP looks pretty nice and it is small. The DUO looks about 3 or 4 times as big, has cameras awkwardly sticking out of it, and looks cheap. Yet for some reason getting on the bandwagon even during the development stage costs almost 2 times the retail price of a LEAP? Say what?
(D) While they make claims of high accuracy and low latency, I don't see any numbers anywhere. I'll believe that when I see it.
All in all, at this stage of the game, the LEAP has a hell of a lot going for it that the DUO lacks. Maybe it will be better in the long run. Maybe it will be open source. But neither of those things is anywhere near certain yet.