 |
Podtech Gesture Research Turns Hand Into Mouse
Experimental gesture recognition software from PodTech can turn your hand into a computer mouse that can control your computer.
(PodTech gesture control software)
The video of ex-Microsoft evangelist Robert Scoble provided below shows how it works. A camera focused on the user's hand above the keyboard detects when the user touches his forefinger to his thumb. When that "circle" is made, the software maps the gesture to the screen, allowing control in the same way that a mouse can drag and drop, and so forth.
(Podtech research clip)
Gesture recognition using video frames grabbed in real time has been around since the early 1990's. The interesting thing about this story (to me) is not necessarily the PodTech software, but the fact that now all of the hardware components (built-in cameras, powerful processors) are standard equipment on many computers, and are cheap in any case.
(Your new mouse-hand is ready)
You won't need expensive setups like the otherwise cool Minority Report Glove Interface From Raytheon, to say nothing about millions of dollars in movie magic like the Wired Glove Interface Display from Steven Spielberg's Minority Report. You might still need a glove to talk to your gun or other weapon; see the Handwear Computer Input Device Combat Glove.
Via Adrenaline Vault; read about more Vision-Based Hand Gesture Recognition Systems. Thanks to The Sabre Runner for the tip on this story.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/6/2007)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Display ")
WatchSense Perfect For Fat-Fingered Smartwatch Owners
'Now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components...' - Douglas Adams, 1979.
Transparent OLED TV By Panasonic
It's the look of things to come.
Cicret Makes Your Skin Into A Display
'On the translucent mica-like coverings over the orifices, appeared reddish characters...' - Schachner and Zagat, 1931.
Organic Photonic Skin Display
'A strip of readout skin on my wrist...' - John Varley, 1992.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Current News
Bat Bot Robotic Flapping-Wing Drone
'The dark birdforms dotted the mountaintops like statues of prehistoric beasts, wings outspread...'
NASA's Astronaut Rescue Ball
'Ball and closely-prisoned man plummeted downward..'
ARM Wants To Build Brain Chips
'Slivers of microsoft, angular fragments of colored silicon...'
Sky Fence - A Drone-Proof Shield Created Over Prison
'There’s still a protective field over the whole thing. It volatilizes anything that tries to get through.'
Geoengineering The Atmosphere For Climate Change
'...a uniform temperature for each degree of latitude the year round.'
Archinaut Orbiting Robotic Factory
'mass-produced only in the orbiting factories...'
Cryonic Preservation - The Last Perk You'll Ever Need
'Is there not also a law providing for voluntary suspension of animation?'
Computers Understand Humans By Watching And Modeling Them
Soon, your computer will be watching you... and judging you.
NASA Asks For Moon To Earth Delivery Ideas
'Authority's 3-g catapult was almost one hundred kilometers long...'
Musk Tunnels Wisely Restrict Drivers
Too many robots.
Robot Swarms Controlled With Augmented Reality
'You're not thinking in enough dimensions...'
MIT's C-LEARN Helps Robots Transfer Learning To Other Robots
'Talk Between Robots radio...'
Mini-Brains In A Dish
'Cultured brains on a slab.'
Rapid Automated Search For Habitable Planets Needed
'I was near enough it now to set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching it for a habitable planet.'
WatchSense Perfect For Fat-Fingered Smartwatch Owners
'Now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components...'
Digital Construction Platform Robot 3D Prints A Building
'It extrudes material like a spider.'
