Computing Gets Physical From: Technology Review - 08/01/2004 - page 56 By: David Kushner Gesture recognition technology has finally started to emerge from the domain of science fiction into reality, and it is the ambition of the technology's proponents and developers to make it the remote control of the 21st century. One example is the EyeToy, a peripheral for Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 2 game console that places the real-time image of the player into the gaming environment through a video camera connected to a USB port. Video from the camera is compressed and funneled through the USB port, and processed via "conceptual abstraction" in the PlayStation; players interact with the game by moving their body around. For EyeToy to work, one must stand in a specific place relative to the camera, but Cybernet's GestureStorm software system does not have this limitation. GestureStorm is used by TV weathermen to manipulate the display of meteorological forecasts through gestures. Other gesture recognition technologies Cybernet is readying for commercial release include Navigaze, an interface that taps eye movement, and Use Your Head gaming technology that enables users to input directional commands through head movement. Gesture recognition could be used to enhance rather than displace conventional interfaces: One example is a personal digital assistant from Canesta that projects the image of a keyboard onto a flat surface, and uses an infrared light beam to track the location of the user's fingers at any time. Other gesture recognition interfaces include a "gesture panel" developed by Georgia Institute of Technology researchers that could enable motorists to control various automotive systems without taking their eyes off the road, and a "conversational humanoid" from MIT that detects and reacts to a person's movements as they are recorded by a wearable tracking device. EyeToy: http://www.eyetoy.com/ (requires Flash) http://www.wired.com/news/games/0%2C2101%2C59808%2C00.html http://money.cnn.com/2003/09/12/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/ http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.08/play.html?pg=1 GestureStorm: http://www.cybernet.com/products/gesturestorm.html Navigaze: http://www.cybernet.com/products/about.html http://www.asc2004.com/23rdASC/summaries/m/MP-05.pdf http://www.gcn.com/23_22/cover/26868-1.html http://www.gesturecentral.com/useyourhead/