A communications company Israeli
company called XTR3D says it will soon put on the market a mobile phone where
customers will just be able to flick through channels and adjust the volume
using only their hands.
The BBC reports that customers
will just have to turn their palms towards the screen, and zap away without
ever getting off the couch.
And no need for under-the-skin electronics
or fancy microchips.
Instead, the TV - or rather
gesture recognition software installed inside - will "read" your
moves and execute appropriate commands, without any need for physically
pressing any buttons.
Based in Tel Aviv, XTR3D is one
of the developers of such motion capture technology, and it has just received
$8m (£5m) investment bound to give "touchless" tech another push -
and according to the firm, bring the first motion control smartphone into the
market as early as next year.
US electronics giant Texas
Instruments is among the investors. Although the Israeli firm follows in the
footsteps of Microsoft's Kinect, the multi-directional gesture control gaming
console that was launched last year and has since been selling like hot cakes despite
the average $200 price tag, its technology is quite different.
The Kinect has depth sensors,
multi-array microphones and RGB cameras that provide the software with the
information it needs to track both voice and gestures.
XTR3D, on the other hand, uses
ordinary 2D cameras - such as a webcam of a computer or the one in your
smartphone - to extract 3D out of a 2D image.
This creates the same
three-dimensional effect as on the Kinect.
According to the Tel Aviv
start-up's spokesman Roy Ramati, XTR3D's technology has all the advantages of a
3D camera without any of the disadvantages - it can work in broad daylight, is
much cheaper and uses a lot less power.
"And it can be installed
into any consumer electronics device," adds Mr Ramati.
Dor Givon, XTR3D's founder and
chief technical officer, adds that it is even possible to play a proper Kinect
game on a regular laptop that has the software, touchlessly controlling the
device from a distance of a few centimetres to up to 5m away.
And, he says, anyone will be able
to afford it.
"Our target is to penetrate
the market, so it will be something for everyone to try out," says Mr
Givon.
"New devices will have the
interface embedded in them, with older ones you will be able to download the
software from the app store."
Besides gaming and switching TV
channels, the existing prototypes include a PC where it is possible to flip
through a PowerPoint presentation just by waving your hand, a tablet and a
smartphone that have features such as using gestures to create the effect of a
joystick, to click, swipe, zoom in and out with a pinch gesture, and a GPS
device that can be controlled touchlessly while driving.
ZANIS
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