Gesture Control is currently in its infancy, despite becoming increasingly popular in gaming and virtual reality markets. Many predict that in the next decade however, gestural recognition could replace touch sensing as the leading computer input technology. And with companies like Microsoft, Thalmic Labs and Leap Motion leading the way, the future could be here sooner than you think.
Microsoft’s Kinect is probably the best known of all gesture control technologies right now, thanks to their original Kinect which burst onto the scene in 2010. Now, with the release of Kinect Sports Rivals on their Xbox One platform, they’re taking immersive gameplay to a whole new level. Users will have their likenesses scanned and play as themselves in a lifelike world where skill, speed, and inches matter.
The Leap Motion Controller always users to manipulate their computers with the kinds of gestures we’ve all gotten used to thanks to the advances in touch screen technology. Users will use swipes, pinches, and scrolls, only without touching anything with their hands and fingers instead of a mouse or pen.
Leap claim that the experience will be more responsive than a touch screen or a mouse by tracking users’ movements at a rate of over 200 frames per second. They see their software being adopted by industries across the board from architecture and engineering, through medicine and design to gaming and web browsing, and with the upcoming release of the VR Adaptor, we will see the blending of immersive design and gesture control
As experience designers, we’re obviously stupidly excited about all this, and the impact it’s going to have on our work.