Those white boxes are position sensors that allow the WIND system to turn your gestures into robotic commands.

Of all the ways you could command a robot, turning your body into a game controller sounds like the most fun. Future Robotics Technology Center (fuRo), part of the Chiba Institute of Technology, has developed an upper body suit that does just that. The Wireless Intelligent Networked Device (WIND) uses several small sensors, each with 3D positioning, to translate user motion into robotic commands. WIND communicates with a robot via Bluetooth signals, eliminating the need for a direct wired connection. All sensor information is controlled by a System in Package (SiP) core which consolidates a PC’s worth of robot command capability into a single chip. The fuRo system uses gestures, not one-to-one motion capture, to dictate commands. In other words the user doesn’t raise a hand when she wants the robot to raise a hand, she raises a hand when she wants the robot to dance. It’s a very cool looking control scheme when you see it in action. Check out the videos below to see for yourself.

Gesture controls are really hitting it big this year. We’ve seen gestures replace TV remotes – why press a button when waving your hand works equally well? The Acceleglove is a wearable device that translates movement to command a robot or record ASL. Yet the WIND is the first such system I’ve seen that uses the entire upper body to provide gesture controls. It increases the possible vocabulary of movements by a large amount. WIND also seems to be quite fun judging by the users in the video.

Plasticpals provided the following video which shows a live demonstration of the WIND and fuRo’s Morph 3 robot. Skip ahead to 1:05 to see how elaborate physical movements on the users part produce equally elaborate movement of the robot. However, the controller and robot movements are often quite different. Again this isn’t one-to-one motion control.

Which is, frankly, a little disappointing to me. If I shrug my shoulders I want my robot to shrug its shoulders not do a funny pose. Gesture controls are cool when it comes to computers and TVs, yet when there’s a humanoid shape in front of me I want it to mimic my human shape. That’s just a visceral reaction on my part, but I think it’s something most other robot enthusiasts would share.

Now, I don’t want that criticism to detract from what fuRo has accomplished, because they’ve done something great here. SiP technology could really change the scale of robotics, letting more control happen in less space. And WIND is a remarkable way to translate body movement into commands, and it could lead to some really cool innovations in human-computer interfaces. Getting the entire upper body into the command environment could free up one’s hands for separate tasks, or even allow body posture to signal for an automated response. Slouching? You could have your robot yell at you to straighten up. Have you begun to contort and grab your left arm? Your robot could call for aid because you’re having a heart attack.

It will be interesting to see where fuRo takes the WIND concept. Cyberdyne’s nerve signal sensing for its exoskeleton and Microsoft’s Project Natal highlight how full body motion capture could change robotics and gaming. WIND will have to find a niche outside of those arenas. Even if full body gestures don’t catch on, I suspect that the technology that enables WIND will find good use in other areas. Multiple position sensor signals routed through a central processor – sounds like the basis for the craziest Wii accessory ever.

[image credit: fuRo]
[video credits: fuRo, PlasticPals]

You don't need the remote, just wave your hand!

In some households, fighting over the TV remote is a raging nightly battle. In mine it’s more of a cold war detente. Either way, by the end of next year Hitachi (NYSE: HIT) may take the conflict to a whole new level. Working with Canesta and GestureTek, the Japanese electronics giant has created a line of television sets that will be able to recognize a viewer’s hand gestures. Instead of a remote control, you can just wave your hand in the right way to change channels or volume. Check out the video after the break to see Hitachi’s demonstration at CES from earlier this year.

From tablet PCs to iPhones, designers are giving us new ways to interact with our electronic devices. The future of the human-computer interface is likely to be much more tactile and intuitive than our current dependence on keyboard, mouse or remote control. With gesture controlled television, Hitachi and its partners aren’t just removing the necessity of a remote, they’re blurring the lines between the real world and the digital one. Right now, the space between you and your TV is just empty air, but in a few years it could be where you visualize a virtual remote control, or where you interact with your stereo, or the space in which you can clap to tell your laptop to go to sleep. Already, we’ve seen how any hard surface can be turned into a simple input device through acoustics. Imagine what will happen when every open space could be used as a digital interface. It could be an amazing way to integrate electronics into our lives, or it could be a horribly confusing way to crowd our personal space. Probably both.

GestureTek was responsible for creating the software that recognizes gestures and defines which gestures will control which functions of the TV. A little wave indicates you wish to make a command, a large wave scrolls through channels or options, pushing forward selects, a lowering of the hand scrolls down, and two hands can be used to pause playback. Twirling a finger or hand in a circle can vary an option (like raising the volume) and is reminiscent of the iPod dial. GestureTek has tried to use universal gestures, but there may be some variation across regions.

The Canesta hardware that makes the gesture TV possible uses cameras to capture a 3D image of the audience. This technology allows the TV to differentiate between your hand and a picture of a hand. The following Canesta video shows how the 3D image capture may be adapted to an entire entertainment system.

A TV that watches what you are doing is straight out of Orwell’s 1984. Understandably, Hitachi and its partners have tried to ease concerns that the television could become a tool of Big Brother. The Canesta cameras are sensitive enough to distinguish between individuals in a family and would allow each member to “save” their own settings on the TV. However, Canesta and Hitachi maintain that the cameras would not be sensitive enough to pick one user out among millions. The TV could be able to tell that you are the thin woman that likes action movies and makes broad gestures, and yet still not be able to identify you as Kate Beckinsale. Of course, I’m sure hard-line conspiracy analysts will find that guarantee to be cold comfort.

As cool as the Hitachi TV may be, I’m not sure it will be practical. You never know how consumers will respond to new interfaces until they live with them everyday in their homes. Still, even if waving your hands around doesn’t become the next big innovation in entertainment, we are certain to see other devices take advantage of rapidly improving gesture and facial recognition software. Our movements, and the space around us, are set to become the next creative space as the digital revolution continues. Which is great, but it’s unlikely to keep my remote control conflict from escalating. Compromising and watching the nightly news = mutually assured destruction.

[photo credit: Hitachi]
[video credit: New Media Geek RF, Canesta, Hitachi]