It all starts with games — always, but then the technology trickles down to other more useful applications. The LeapMotion controller is a small device about the size of a pack of gum that allows you to use hand and finger gestures to control your computer. It’s the Minority Report Gestural Interface come true on a personal scale.
Right now, it seems more useful browsing and scrolling screens. It claims sub-mm accuracy so technically we could use it to edit photos. Future applications I can think off the top of my head: any computer-controlled device, such as an artificial robotic arm, robotic scapels, etc. The CEO is thinking forward too:
“Today marks a tremendous milestone for the company, but we’re just getting started,” said Leap Motion co-founder and CEO Michael Buckwald. “Leap Motion enhances the computing experience to allow people to do things in new and better ways, and we’re committed to breaking down the barriers between people and technology to make the future more easily accessible.”
It’s something you may think [or wished] Apple created.
The LeapMotion controller incorporates two cameras and three infra-red LEDs that connect to any Mac or PC via USB. It takes snapshots of your hands’ positions at about 290fps, translates those hand gestures into commands that developers can then use to develop hand-controllable applications. So it’s not like you plug it into your PC and start controlling it using hand gestures. In other words, its success depends on adoption by the PC and Mac manufacturers. Wouldn’t it have been better to translate the gestures into commands that existing operating systems understand? Or, think about providing an SDK that does interface with existing operating systems.
Leap Motion Launches World’s Most Accurate 3-D Motion Control Technology for Computing
Airspace Store Offers 75 New Apps for Leap Motion To Let People Create, Explore, Play and More
San Francisco – July 22, 2013
Today people around the world take their first leap with Leap Motion™, the motion-control software and hardware company changing the future of human-computer interaction. The company launched its software today, allowing people to control their computers with natural hand and finger movements. It also opened Airspace™, the discovery platform for people to buy, download and launch apps built for Leap Motion’s 3D interaction. Hundreds of thousands of people pre-ordered the $79.99 Leap Motion Controller, which the company began shipping last week.
At launch, the Airspace Store contains more than 75 applications built by developers in more than 20 countries. The wide range of free and paid apps across many categories allows people to create, explore, play, learn and more through new immersive experiences. The Airspace Store will continue to grow as the large Leap Motion developer community brings more applications to keep expanding the many uses of 3D motion control. Anyone can browse Airspace at http://airspace.leapmotion.com.
“Today marks a tremendous milestone for the company, but we’re just getting started,” said Leap Motion co-founder and CEO Michael Buckwald. “Leap Motion enhances the computing experience to allow people to do things in new and better ways, and we’re committed to breaking down the barriers between people and technology to make the future more easily accessible.”
The Leap Motion Controller retails for $79.99, and can be ordered at http://www.leapmotion.com. Beginning July 28, Leap Motion Controllers will be available in Best Buy stores across the United States. It is also available in the UK from Amazon.co.uk. Partnerships with Asus and HP to respectively bundle and embed Leap Motion’s technology into select computers, as well as expected retail distribution outside the US and UK, will further expand Leap Motion’s reach.
The Leap Motion Controller works with computers running Mac OS X 10.7 or 10.8, or Windows 7 or 8. It requires a minimum Intel Core™ i3 or AMD Phenom™ II processor, 2 GB RAM and a USB 2.0 port.
About Leap Motion, Inc.
Leap Motion™ provides the world’s most powerful and sensitive touch-free 3-D motion-control and motion-sensing technology. Leap Motion’s proprietary technology, invented by co-founder David Holz, can track the movement of both hands and all 10 fingers with up to 1/100th millimeter accuracy and no visible latency. The Leap Motion™ Controller is a small USB device available for $79.99. The Leap Motion technology can easily embed into other consumer and enterprise hardware. For more information, visit www.leapmotion.com.