gesture-controlled
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Myo replaces controllers with arm-controlled Oculus Rift gaming
The Oculus Rift headset is doing its best to draw players into the virtual realities it hosts, but traditional or motion-assisted controllers are typically used to interact with these virtual worlds. Thelmic Labs has a different vision for player interaction however - rather than tracking the positioning of a controller in 3D space, Thelmic's Myo armbands build virtual representations of a player's hands and forearms. According to Thelmic's FAQ page, Myo works by measuring the "electrical activity from your muscles to detect what gesture your hand is making." The armbands use a Bluetooth 4.0 connection to communicate with Windows, Mac, Android or iOS devices. Thelmic lists the beginning shipments of Myo development kits for the "first half of 2014," with the consumer version shipping shortly after that. Both are priced at $149. Potential developers that don't want to wait around for Thelmic's wider distribution shipments can apply to join the Thelmic Alpha Developers, a group that will gain access to pre-production Myo hardware. While a cool concept doesn't promise future developer support for the hardware, it's pretty neat to imagine casting in-game spells with nothing but hand gestures. Besides, whatever amount of gesture functionality the Myo achieves can't possibly dip below the bar that Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor set on the Kinect, right? [Image: Thelmic Labs]
Hisense Series XT710 TV helps you exercise your La-Z-Boy sans remote
You might feel like the king of the couch, but let's face it -- picking up the remote can be exhausting. Hisense is hoping to lighten your load with the launch of its new Android-based Smart TV with hands-free eyeSight gesture recognition technology -- the Series XT710. Slated to launch in China, the TV features a 2D sensor, designed to understand your hand movements and interpret your every channel changing whim. Besides flipping between reruns of Law and Order and Jersey Shore, couch potatoes will also be able to play games and access Android applications through the intelligent tube. Now, if it could only help us pop our popcorn. Jump past the break to check out the full PR.
Kinect hack turns Arduino-controlled delta robot into aggressive claw crane (video)
Candy crane, teddy picker, claw machine, whatever you call it, this arcade mainstay was robbing children of their golden tokens long before we slid into our first pair of Hammer pants, but despite the changing face of the plush offerings within, the crane game's remained mostly the same. Now a team of students at the Bartlett School of Architecture have produced a Kinect hack that could change the way you drop that claw. The rather temperamental delta robot enlists the ever-hackable peripheral in combination with Processing and Arduino to mimic the movements of a user's arm. As you can tell by the video below, the delta hasn't quite figured out the subtleties of human gestures, but the robot's creators say they intend to implement "several autonomous behaviors" once all the kinks are worked out. Frankly, we'd pay our weight in tokens to see the crane game bite back at an unsuspecting whippersnapper. Video after the break.
Minority Report UI designer demos his tech at TED (video)
In February 2010, the man who built the technology of Minority Report twice -- once for the movie, and once in real life -- spoke at TED about the future of user interface design. Yesterday, TED posted John Underkoffler's entire fifteen-minute video presentation -- a copy of which you'll find right after the break. Get a curated glimpse into his company's tech in the following demo, and hear from the man himself when the gloves might come off. And if that doesn't satisfy your appetite, read an in-depth interview with Underkoffler at our more coverage link.
Microsoft Research toys with the cosmos... using forefinger and thumb (video)
We've always been suckers for Minority Report tech, and Microsoft Research's latest attempt is not to be missed. Thought pinch-to-zoom was quaint? Try pinching the sky in this geodesic dome. Though the cardboard-and-paper-clip structure isn't all that (unless you're the arts and crafts type), the inside houses a projectiondesign DLP unit with a custom infrared camera system that can turn simple hand gestures into virtual interstellar travel, 360-degree video teleconferencing and more. You'll find a pair of videos demonstrating the concept after the break, but try not to get too attached -- if you're anything like us, your poor heart can't handle another Courier axing.
MIT tech makes gesture controls cheaper, more colorful
Sit down, Natal. Move over, Move. MIT researchers have unveiled a new breakthrough in gesture control technology: Multi-colored spandex gloves. Created by researchers Robert Wang and Jovan Popović, the gloves require nothing more than a standard webcam and special software and contain no electronic components whatsoever. The software simply recognizes various colors and shapes printed on the gloves and translates the image into an accurate 3D representation of the hand. Rather than translate the hand position data on the fly, the software actually identifies the image it sees and checks it against a database of hand position images. Upon finding a match in the database, the program displays the corresponding 3D image. The only apparent downside is that the program requires several hundred megabytes of memory to run, though Wang notes that the amount of standard computer RAM is continually increasing, with most current computers including 4GB. Wang cites video games as one of the most obvious applications for the technology, which would allow gamers to easily manipulate objects within a game world. Of course, every console maker has its own motion control solution, at least in the offing, but the gloves have an advantage: They should cost "about a dollar" to manufacture. The only thing the technology seems to be lacking is a punchy marketing name ... Cue Joystiq Publishing to the rescue: "The Amazing Technicolor Dreamgloves!" Give us a call, MIT, and we'll get these babies off the ground. The rest of you can see the gloves in action after the break. [Via GamePolitics]
iPad apps: defining experiences from the first wave
There are now over 1,348 approved apps for the iPad. That's on top of the 150,000 iPad-compatible iPhone programs already available in the App Store. When Apple's tablet PC launches, just hours from now, it will have a software library greater than that of any handheld in history -- not counting the occasional UMPC. That said, the vast majority of even those 1,348 iPad apps are not original. They were designed for the iPhone, a device with a comparatively pokey processor and a tiny screen, and most have just been tweaked slightly, upped in price and given an "HD" suffix -- as if that somehow justified the increased cost. Besides, we've seen the amazing potential programs have on iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and webOS when given access to a touchscreen, always-on data connection, GPS, cloud storage and WiFi -- but where are the apps that truly define iPad? What will take advantage of its extra headroom, new UI paradigms and multitouch real estate? Caught between netbook and smartphone, what does the iPad do that the iPhone cannot? After spending hours digging through the web and new iPad section of the App Store, we believe we have a number of reasonably compelling answers. Update: Now includes Wormhole Remote, TweetDeck, SkyGrid, Touchgrind HD, GoToMeeting, SplitBrowser, iDisplay, Geometry Wars and Drawing Pad.
Ars discusses rumored Xbox 360 motion sensor
Microsoft's rumored motion-sensing peripheral for the Xbox 360 may have actually been on display to the public under a different banner, Ars Technica suggests. The meat of this speculation (tofu compact for vegans) is that the site actually saw the same technology at the Consumer Electronics Show last year, and Microsoft is allegedly buying 3DV, the company responsible.Back at CES 2008, 3DV apparently had a small web-cam that could detect movement and interaction, telling Ars at the time that it planned to release the item in the "sub-$100 area." Ars states that the technology was already "mature" at the time and was like having a "Microsoft Surface -- without the Surface." It's all still "rumor and speculation," but it seems Ars has found some missing puzzle pieces between the couch cushions.[Via Engadget]
Rumor: Motion-sensing 360 peripheral spotted
You know E3 is less than a month away when the Joystiq rumor page has near daily stories. Be that as it may, a tipster over at our sister site, Engadget, has spotted what seems to be a new peripheral for the Xbox 360. Though details are scant, the source notes that rather than holding a motion sensing peripheral of some sort, a camera, mic, and sensors will pick up "full body movement and sound." Here's the full bulleted list of features (again, according to the tipster):
