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Leap: A new gesture based interface for devices

leapmotion.com

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Re: Leap: A new gesture based interface for devices

#22

Post by nrp »

mrsebastian wrote: post #6
simonbarker87 wrote: post #4

As a concept this is pretty awesome and it removes the need to touch your screen so I guess you can move the sensor closer to a more relaxed place, I can see it getting tiring pretty quickly. Just like a standing desk though I guess you just get used to it over time. Aside from end use issues, the tech behind this is very nice

Any idea what the tech behind it is? They're very vague on the website, and my patent searches are turning up empty. I guess some kind of infrared thing?

I suspect infrared time-of-flight. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-of-flight_camera

You can get pretty impressive accuracy and precision at short distances, and the plane of depth points matches what their demo video shows: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d6KuiuteIA&feature=playe...

Re: Leap: A new gesture based interface for devices

#25

Post by mike-cardwell »

d0mine wrote: post #19
twelvechairs wrote: post #17

I can't see why there is so much negativity as to end use applications. I can see lots of potential for this - slideshow presentations, laptops (goodbye annoying trackpad), as well as a stylus-and-tablet replacement for designers, etc. etc. I think the key however the key will be in the recognition of subtler gestures. If you can show me a man using two hands to type, then moving them not far from the keyboard to act…

If they claim a submillimeter accuracy; I don't see why you can't type without a physical keyboard.

Haptic feedback

Re: Leap: A new gesture based interface for devices

#26

Post by elisk »

mattmanser wrote: post #16

Already a lot of negativity here... To me this looks amazing and although LEAP seem to be pushing for you to get rid of your mouse/keyboard, personally I think this is probably best as an addition to it. Imagine if you had one of these built into the keyboard. You're typing an email need to add a location switch over to google maps, hands off keyboard as you manipulate it around to get a decent resolution, 'tap' the…

As much as I would love toying with this, it really all about implementation.

There are a lot of issues to consider - what if I mean to swipe one thing but the system recognizes another? how is that handled? Does it calculate the position of my head and the perspective I'm seeing?

I agree with the above comment that this would ideally be an addition to our growing arsenal of HIDs, including keyboard, mouse, touch mouse, joystick, wacom tablets, and others are not intended to replace one or the other, most of them are complementary to other HIDs.

Re: Leap: A new gesture based interface for devices

#27

Post by pbreit »

This is very cool technology. The company was formerly "Ocuspec". One break-through is using very inexpensive hardware (<$5 at RadioShack) to get that sub-mm resolution. At the other end of the spectrum, they can cover a football field (and more in the future). What they are showing now is just the beginning. Kudos to rolling out with an SDK. I can inly imagine what sorts of applications developers will dream up.

Re: Leap: A new gesture based interface for devices

#29

Post by danblick »

Not to be cynical, but this reminds me a little of Alan Kay's comment:

""" By the way, Sketchpad was the first system where it was discovered that the light pen was a very bad input device. The blood runs out of your hand in about 20 seconds, and leaves it numb. And in spite of that it’s been re-invented at least 90 times in the last 25 years. """

from http://archive.org/details/AlanKeyD1987 around 7:10

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