CES: Wii see a trend
LAS VEGAS (AP) - January 10, 2008 Many new gadgets are taking the idea of such an intuitive
interface several steps further. Soon, you may be able to control
computers, television sets, even cell phones with hand gestures
alone.
In one demonstration by 3DV Systems at the International
Consumer Electronics Show here this week, users stood in front of a
large screen and controlled a Windows computer with hand gestures:
thumb left to go left, index finger right to go right, victory sign
for Enter.
JVC, also known as Victor Company of Japan Ltd., demonstrated a
prototype TV with controls based on the same idea: gestures and
sounds like snaps and claps turn the set on or off, control volume
or change the channel.
The prospect of never again having to search the sofa for a
remote is sure to be welcome in many homes, but the traditional
fight over the remote could become worse: imagine two kids engaged
in a sign-language duel to control the set, with the picture and
sound changing frantically to keep up.
In another demo, when a 3DV employee did boxing motions an
avatar on the screen in front of him mimicked the movement of his
entire upper body - quite a step up from the boxing game of the
Wii, which only senses the movement of the controllers.
A particularly popular Wii game is bowling, where the user
swings the remote as if it were a ball. Two phones that hit the
Japanese market in May include bowling games that work the same
way, but without the Wii: Swing the whole cell phone and you launch
the ball down the lane shown on the screen.
The motion-sensing technology in those phones comes from
GestureTek, a Sunnyvale, Calif., company. While the Wii's remote
uses a combination of tiny mechanical springs and a camera to sense
motion, GestureTek uses only cameras - quite conveniently, since
most cell phones and quite a few laptops already come with cameras.
GestureTek's technology is already found on some Verizon
Wireless cell phones, which contain a game were the user can roll a
ball through a maze by tilting the phone. Another application is
the EyeToy for Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 2, which lets you play
simple games by moving in front of the camera.
The technology isn't just for fun: it can be healthy too.
Francis MacDougall, GestureTek's chief technology officer, said the
company has run studies of stroke patients playing a snowboarding
game by moving in front of a camera and found it improved their
balance. Wiis also have been used for physical therapy.
To take these relatively simple applications further, GestureTek
and 3DV are looking at adding a third dimension: depth. A regular
camera produces a two-dimensional picture. Two cameras together can
sense how far away an object is, just like two eyes enable humans
to perceive depth.
"We think the interactivity of all this stuff improves with
depth," said MacDougall. "You can use that in very novel ways
compared to 2-D."
MacDougall demonstrated a prototype of the Airpoint, a foot-long
bar with an upward-facing camera at either end. When MacDougall
held his finger above it, it sensed the finger's angle and
position, letting him control a cursor on the computer screen by
pointing.
"We see it initially as a gimmicky business-presentation type
device, but you could see it built into the corners of a laptop,"
MacDougall said. That approach would compete with touchscreen, but
the Airpoint has something extra going for it: no fingerprints on
the screen.
3DV has another and quite exotic way of sensing depth, that
works with a single camera. The lens is surrounded by a ring of
diodes emitting pulses of invisible infrared light, up to 60 per
second. The light bounces off whoever is standing in front of the
camera, and the camera measures when it comes back. Light reflected
by closer objects returns faster.
"When light hits your nose, it gets back quicker than the light
that hits your cheek," said 3DV spokesman Rich Flier.
3DV plans to make its camera available to consumers by the end
of the year, for less than $200, but it's lacking a big-name
manufacturer to build it into screens or bundle it with game
consoles.
"We want people to play with the camera and develop
applications," Flier said. "We hope to see licensees pick it
up."