A new circuit board for gesture controls from Germany-based IDENT Technology could help every electronic gizmo in your home respond to the smallest twist of your wrist. The GestIC Evaluation Board (suggested reatil € 500) is part development kit, part primer for those who wish to integrate gesture controls into their electronic equipment. This bare bones system comes with only four sensors, but that’s enough to track human movement and plan out a gesture interface. Additional sensors can be added for more complex systems. To give you an idea of how their GestIC could enable some really great household tech, IDENT has generated a cool concept video. The Gesture-Cube is a 3D interface that lets you flip through photos, videos, music, and more with a wave of your hand. It’s definitely impressive looking even if it’s only a concept. Check out the GestIC and the Gesture-Cube in action in the videos below.
Gesture controls made a big splash at CES this year with major names like Hitachi and Toshiba trying to get you to put down the remote and use your hands to command your TV. If gestures are going to become the next big human-computer interface, however, they’re going to need to do more than just change the channel. That’s why development boards like the GestIC hold so much promise. A small, low power, easily incorporated gesture control could allow many more companies to get into the game quickly.
The systems we’ve seen with Hitachi, Toshiba, or even Microsoft’s project Natal, seem to have a much better range than the GestIC. Of course, without a full-fledged product to see in action, it’s hard to evaluate the IDENT technology. Hopefully, the company will make a Gesture-Cube prototype or some other nifty gadget to promote their wares. There’s no doubt that the evaluation board and the Gesture-Cube are good ideas. We just can’t tell yet whether those ideas will prove successful in real life. For that matter, the jury’s still out on the entire gesture-control concept. Sometimes the coolest ideas aren’t the ones that end up selling. We’ll see.
[image and video credits: IDENT Technology]
[source: IDENT Technology AG, Gesture-Cube]
