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Thalmic axes Myo gesture armband to make 'entirely different' product
Thalmic has enjoyed a fair amount of success with its gesture-controlling Myo armband, which found uses in everything from DJ sets to prosthetics. However, the company is trying something radical: it's getting rid of its star product in favor of something new. Co-founder Stephen Lake has announced that Thalmic is discontinuing the Myo to make an "entirely different" product that demands the firm's "full attention and focus." Existing owners will still receive support.
Researchers use Myo muscle-sensing wearable for prosthetics
Controlling Call of Duty or flying a drone isn't all the Myo armband can do. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University are employing the muscle-sensing wearable for a different application: prosthetics. With two of the gadgets, a patient is able control a prosthetic arm when he thinks about it. The pair of Myo bands on the upper arm read the electric impulses from muscle movement and wirelessly transmit them to a nearby computer. That computer determines what movement he is trying to make and tells the prosthetic arm to complete the task.
Muscle-sensing Myo gesture armband will be on Amazon this quarter
About a year after getting our first taste of the Myo, Thalmic Labs has announced that it's reaching out to the masses by way of Amazon this quarter. As with its pre-order on the company's website, this muscle-sensing gesture control armband will be available for $199. But even before that, Thalmic Labs has already sold 50,000 pre-orders (with about half of them shipped to buyers so far), which is a nice nod of approval to some of the use case examples showed off by Thalmic Labs and its several partners.
Now you only have to barely move your hand to control your smart glasses
One main obstacle to making smart glasses mainstream is their awkward control methods, but that may change courtesy of Thalmic Labs, the maker of the $149 Myo muscle-sensing armband due in this fall. With the help of several enterprise partners, the startup has managed to integrate its futuristic wearable with Google Glass, Epson Moverio and Recon Jet, thus allowing users to quickly flick through documents, contacts and apps with subtle hand plus finger gestures, as opposed to fiddling with a tiny trackpad. In the videos after the break, it seems that there's great potential for the Myo in the medical space, heavy industries plus outdoor sports, albeit at the risk of making the users look a little silly.
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]
When Parrot AR.Drone meets Myo armband, magic ensues (video)
Ah, Las Vegas, the perfect location for a spontaneous wedding. Earlier today, we witnessed a quick and dirty collaboration between Parrot and Thalmic Labs at CES, where they paired an AR.Drone 2.0 with a Myo gesture-control armband. The demonstrator was able to control the drone's tilt direction by using just one arm, as well as toggling the rotors by clicking fingers. This author gave it a go as well and found this control method to be as effortless as it looked, though due to the WiFi interference on the show floor (ugh, so typical of large events these days), the drone had to stay within a close proximity of the iPad that was relaying the Myo's commands. There wasn't a way to adjust the vehicle's height in that particular demo, but there's no stopping Thalmic Labs from assigning additional gestures for that -- maybe clench fist to ascend and spread hand to descend. Understandably, neither company could confirm whether they are bringing this feature to market, but we'd be very surprised if they don't sustain their marriage moving forward.
Thalmic Labs' Myo armband does gesture control with muscles (video)
2013 saw the rise of gesture cameras for TVs and various smart devices, but Canadian startup Thalmic Labs thinks its Myo armband is the way forward. During our meeting at CES earlier, co-founder and CEO Stephen Lake explained that his Bluetooth 4.0 device features a new type of biosensor, which can pick up minute electrical impulses in our arm muscles. This allows any wrist movement, finger twitch or fist clenching to be interpreted as a gesture, so long as the inner side of the Myo has skin contact. There's also an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a magnetometer, so arm and body movements are accounted for as well. The idea of Myo traces back to the co-founders' university days, where they explored various wearable technologies while working on a navigation aid for the blind. Lake said since brain control isn't quite there yet, his team found muscle sensing to be the next best thing. From what we saw and tried today, Thalmic Labs seems to be on the right track: We watched co-founder Aaron Grant play Call Of Duty: Ghosts using just a pair of Myos, and he was able to make his avatar run, crouch, jump, fire weapon and reload. Lake also gave a demo on music playback control and slideshow presentation on an iPad, both of which worked just fine. But it doesn't stop there; the CEO also sees opportunity in industrial robotics, space application and even gesture-based authentication. The retail version of the Myo will arrive within the first half of 2014, and not only will it be half as thick as the Myo Alphas shown today, but it'll also feature at least two core applications that will make full use of the armband. Lake said he'll be showing the final design in the next couple of months, but if you're game, you can now head over to Thalmic Labs' website to pre-order a black or white one for $149. Need more convincing? Then check out our in-depth demo video after the break. Update: We also got to see how you can fly a Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 with a Myo! Check it out.
Myo senses your muscles, brings yet another way to control devices (video)
With visions of Minority Report, many a user's hoped to control gadgets by wildly waving at a Kinect like a symphony conductor. Now there's another way to make your friends laugh at you thanks to the Thalmic Labs' Myo armband, which senses motion and electrical activity in your muscles to let you control your computer or other device via Bluetooth 4.0. The company says its proprietary sensor can detect signals right down to individual fingers before you even move them, which -- coupled with an extremely sensitive 6-axis motion detector -- makes for a highly responsive experience. Feedback to the user is given through haptics in the device, which also packs an ARM processor and onboard Lithium-Ion batteries. Myo is now up for a limited pre-order with Thalmic saying you won't be charged until it ships near year's end, while developers can also grab the API. If you're willing to risk some ridicule to be first on the block to grab one, hit the source.
Warning: MYO wristband does not give you superpowers
Another attempt at controlling your Mac and other digital devices by flailing your hands and arms around in awkward gestures is available for pre-order today. The MYO wristband (US$149) from Thalmic Labs won't be shipping until late 2013, and the company's marketing strategy appears to be relying on the childlike wish of being able to wave your hands and arms Harry Potter-like to have objects bow to your command. The technology is cool enough; MYO is an armband that measures electrical activity in your arm muscles and translates gestures and movements into corresponding actions on your digital device. The video below shows a number of examples of how this can be used -- one quite practical idea demonstrates a wheeled robotic vehicle being controlled with hand and arm gestures. But it's the marketing hype that's a bit over the top: "unleash your inner Jedi," or the comment from Thalmic Labs CEO Stephen Lake that the company is interested in "giving us superpowers." Thalmic Labs even uses the tried-and-true method of overhyping a product by resorting to a quote from Steve Wozniak. If you're a developer and this is hitting your main nerve, the MYO API is available today as well. Just don't expect me to get excited about MYO until I'm able to extend my middle finger at the screen to close browser tabs displaying over-the-top marketing statements.
