Jul 31 2010
Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology’s Masters Student, Georg Hackenberg, has developed a 3-D noncontact gesture-based on computer interface akin to the fictitious one shown in the Sci-fi movie, Minority Report, eight years ago.
According to Hackenberg, a unique image analyzing algorithm, sifts and locates the position of the hands, by analyzing the raw data represented in a 3-D mountain form with its peaks representing the position of hands and fingers.
Fraunhofer 3d-multi-touch
This prototype mainly consists of a superior Infrared sensor mounted on a tripod connected to a 3D wire frame desktop. The user’s gestures are interpreted as commands by the sensor. It can be used to load and change photos besides being used as a 3D jigsaw puzzle. Since this is only a prototype and is in a budding stage of conception, the tools in it are pretty basic and it cannot vie with sophisticated photo editing systems like Adobe Photoshop, stated Fraunhofer’s visibility expert Rod McCall. This setup could probably be used initially for small scale public events to provide great interactive sessions. In the future, it may be used for large scale venues like galleries and museums.
According to Sven Behnke, a university of Bonn’s Computer Science professor, the sensor’s main USP is that equipments such as infrared markers or special gloves are not needed to interact with the sensor. Such gesture systems have already been used in video games such as Nintendo Wii and Kinect, a variation of the Microsoft X Box 360. But containing information is much more taxing than controlling games. If the apt way to use the body is established then probably in the future, scientists would be able to wave at screens to go through data or photos and ultimately incorporate it in mobile devices.
Mc Call says that this technology is brand new and the possibilities therein are immense, but its one stumbling block is its exorbitant cost. It costs as much as a small car.