Technology: Forget Fumbling With Tiny Smartphone Keys and Virtual Onscreen Keyboards
Monday, 04 January 2010 13:04
Written by Apocalypso.
Forget the fumbling with tiny cell phone keys and virtual onscreen keyboards. Prof. Masatoshi Ishikawa and Dr. Takashi Komuro of Tokyo University developed so-called "vision-based Input Interface" that allows users to control phone or even write short notes by capturing the movement of five fingers by embedded camera and translates it to command. This touchless interface breaks down traditional barriers between people and technology, changing the way people interact with all kinds of everyday information.
A prototype device developed by Tokyo University team is capable to process complex in-air movements of fingers and translate them into appropriate commands, which enables you to use portable devices without even a touch it.
To catch finger movement, the device adopted 154 fps high-speed camera. Usually two lenses are used to detect 3D movement but customized softwares enables camera to detect them with only one lens.
In the coming years, interfaces such as motion sensing, haptics, fingerprint sensors, advanced voice recognition capabilities and evolutions to predictive text functionality are set to boost data entry efficiencies and introduce a level of multimodality never before experienced on a mobile phone.
However, the biggest shockwaves will be produced by control surfaces and this new technology represents just one possible step toward allowing people to naturally merge the real world with the information power of the Internet.