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Google controls a smartwatch with radar-powered finger gestures
Last year, Google gave us a taste of Project Soli, an effort to deliver radar-powered finger gesture control to wearables. Today, we got a closer look at how it could be implemented in real products, starting with a customized LG Urbane smartwatch. Google reps were able to control the watch simply by holding their fingers in front of it. As they moved closer, even more options opened up. As they moved away, the standard watch face returned. It's just a demo right now, but Soli could solve the problem of controlling smart devices with tiny screens (or with no screens at all).
Gesture control is coming to phone-based VR
Right now, gesture control in virtual reality typically requires an expensive PC and specialized sensors. But what if you can only afford (or simply prefer) VR on your phone? Don't worry, you're covered. EyeSight Technologies has developed gesture control that uses your phone's rear camera to allow touch-free input. It should work with any Android or iOS device, and it isn't picky about headsets. Anything from Gear VR to Google Cardboard should work, although we can't imagine Cardboard owners having much luck if they don't have a head strap.
Make your own hand-controlled robot with a crowdfunded kit
If you've ever wanted to craft a robot that you can control with your hands, you now have a chance of making it a reality: Ziro has started a crowdfunding campaign for its gesture-controlled robot kit. Pledge at least $149 and you'll get both the centerpiece Smart Glove as well as enough parts to build an automaton you can steer with your fingers. It can get expensive to build exactly what you want (a Pro kit is at least $229), but every bundle promises easy construction and smartphone app integration -- you won't have to have a deep understanding of robotics to make this work. If all goes well, you'll get your Ziro hardware in January.
Leap Motion is perfecting natural hand gestures for VR
As immersive as virtual reality can be, you're still left holding awkwardly shaped controllers in your hands -- a reminder that you're very much in the real world. But what if instead of hitting A to move a rock, you could just use your hands? That's exactly what Leap Motion, known for its hand-gesture control sensors, has been working on for the past few years. Most recently, it's been working on something called the Interaction Engine, which aims to take things a step further: to make picking up objects in the digital world feel as natural as it does in the real one.
Clip-on adds gesture control to Pebble Time and Android Wear watches
Aria is a small add-on that clips underneath a smartwatch band and lets you control the device with finger gestures. It's an accessory for an accessory, which sounds kind of ridiculous, but it's not like you have a lot of choices when it comes to adding gesture control to your gadget anyway. The remote control-like clip-on can access any feature you'd usually access through the touch screen or the watch dial, completely freeing up your other hand for tasks like eating, drinking or talking on the phone. Possible gestures include tapping, flicking your fingers, and closing and opening your hand -- you can configure it all through its companion app.
Control your Mac by pointing your finger with ControlAir
If you're sitting at your Mac right now, there's a fairly high chance that you'll be listening to music. Normally, if you want to skip between tracks, you'd use the keyboard shortcuts that line the top of your Apple keyboard. But what if you could could control music and movies without touching your Mac? That's what ControlAir does, and let me tell you, it's pretty impressive.
Fujitsu's ring lets you write in the air with your fingertip
Head-mounted displays are frequently supposed to keep your hands free, but they only sometimes live up to that promise. You can't really dictate a message in a noisy warehouse, can you? If Fujitsu gets its way, you won't have to. It just built a smart ring that not only allows for motion control (something we've seen before), but in-air handwriting. All you do is trace letters with your fingertip, and the motion sensor translates those scribbles into usable characters -- supremely helpful if you need to send a quick reply when you don't have access to a keyboard. There's an NFC tag reader in the ring, too, so you can get instructions for working on a device just by tapping it.
This pocket-sized gesture controller aims to replace your mouse
If a new Indiegogo project has its way, you could soon be waving goodbye to that old, beloved mouse of yours. Meet Flow, a small gadget that pairs with your desktop or laptop and can be programmed with shortcuts to your most frequently used actions. At launch, Flow is said to offer support for more than 30 applications, including popular ones like Final Cut Pro X, Photoshop, Premiere, SoundCloud, Spotify and YouTube. With Spotify, for example, you could set up Flow to skip tracks by simply making a swipe gesture over the device, among other things. Right now, most of Flow's information points to the peripheral being used with desktops or laptops, but the company does note that there could be support for mobile applications in the future. The Flow Indiegogo page appears to be doing really well thus far, so be sure to check out the crowdfunding page if you want to see this get made.
At last, phones will get ultrasound gesture control in first half of 2015
We've been following Elliptic Labs' development on ultrasound gesture control for quite a while, but no time frame was ever given until now. Ahead of CEATEC in Tokyo, the company finally announced that its input technology -- developed in partnership with Murata -- will be arriving on phones in the first half of 2015. But that's not the only good news: On top of the usual swiping gestures for images, games and navigation (we saw some of this last year), there's now a new capability called "multi layer interaction," which uses your hand's proximity to toggle different actions or layers. It's potentially useful for glancing at different types of messages on the lock screen, as demoed in the video after the break.
This is what it's like to operate an arcade claw machine using just gestures (video)
We knew gesture cameras will be making their way to computers and mobile devices this year, but seeing one on the classic claw crane was a pleasant surprise for us. This IDF tech demo was courtesy of a Guangzhou company called The Best Sync, and according to Intel VP Doug Fisher, it only took three days to develop this project using Intel's RealSense technology -- as represented here by the Creative Interactive Gesture Camera (co-developed by SoftKinetic). The gestures were simple: move your hand in one of the four directions to position the claw, and clench your fist to drop it on the dolls. The joystick replacement didn't make the game any easier, but it seemed like everyone still had fun with it. Well, at least this author did, as you can see in our video after the break.
Lumus and eyeSight deal brings gesture control to DK-40 smart glasses hand-on
Imagine a pair of Smart Glasses that you didn't need to fondle just to dismiss notifications, or worse, speak out loud to like a crazy. It's that exact thought that brought Lumus and eyeSight together. If you know each company's respective products, you don't have to imagine too hard what's going on, but if you don't? Basically Lumus makes a Google Glass-like product that has a see-through display in one lens that shows notifications, calendar entries and so on. EyeSight makes software that allows gesture control through existing cameras (like that one in your laptop or phone), and has, for example, just penned a deal with Oppo that sees the software baked into its phones' native controls (wave to browse the gallery, etc.). The collaboration between Lumus and eyeSight was announced here at MWC, and we just swung by to take a look. The Lumus glasses we saw back at CES are unchanged, but this time around, you can dismiss email and social media notifications (for example) with a simple flick, or pull out reminders and calendar entries from the side with a swipe. We were mighty impressed with how well it worked, and how fluid and responsive the interaction was. Of course, this is only a simple demonstration of what is possible, but it's not hard to imagine more creative applications for it further down the line (games, media control, etc.). Of course, some might argue that waving around in the empty space in front of you is no less conspicuous than talking to yourself, but once you've tried it for yourself, we think you'll agree it's a much easier way to interact with a HUD than an out-of-sight touchpad or unreliable voice command. Lumus still hasn't confirmed commercial plans for its glasses, so it could be a while before you decide for yourself. Steve Dent contributed to this report.
