Tags
control, gesture, google+, Project Soli, sensor, virtual reality
I’ve said it before, for VR and technology in general, we want fewer wearables, not more.
We want to wave our arms in the air, mumble commands and explore VR without having to put on suits, gloves, headsets or use controllers.
Of course that future is not quite around the corner, but Google is working on something that will bring this freedom a lot closer.
And not only will it make VR a lot more interesting, it will probably change everything else, in the world.
Yes, everything.
Quite a few companies are working on systems that allow you to control all sorts of things without actually having to touch or wear anything by using sensors and tracking devices.
Just a few of those companies are Nimble VR, the Sixense Stem Sytem, Pebbles Interfaces and of course Leap Motion, some of these have already joined the Oculus team.
We know that Google has been working on their own VR project for some time and they have now also joined the race for what they call radar-based gesture sensing technology.
As part of Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects division a few months ago a group of people started working on Project Soli, an advanced system of censoring hand and finger gestures by using radar emitted from a tiny tiny chip.
And this month they send out applications for the first batch of alpha testing!
So far it looks like they are mostly looking into using it to control all sorts of devices and their technology is incredibly sensitive and exact.
But of course I’m mostly looking at Virtual Reality and I think that something like this with this level of accuracy could have quite an impact on our adventures in virtual worlds.
Even without a VR headset, you could imagine having a small sensor attached to your computer scanning your hand gestures and translating them into hand movements in Second Life or Sansar.
Need to open that door?
Simply move your hand towards the door handle and make the grab and turn gesture.
In the end I think that all these sensor technologies will be working towards one simple system using one or a few tiny sensors that will scan all the movements of anyone in the room, from wild hand movements to subtle finger gestures and even facial expressions.
It won’t be long till using actual buttons, dials, keys and knobs will be a thing of the past.
Anyway, enjoy this rather interesting video;