Gesture interpretation for robot movements--now that's a cool idea and one I'm sure has to be well underway in research labs. I don't think gesture movements are that unfamiliar to users any more. Between the new generation of smart phones (not just Apple) and other commonplace electronic devices, more and more users are getting familiar. And for those up and coming engineers born and breed on consoles like the Xbox and Wii, this kind of interaction will be expected.
There's also the risk of unintentional consequences. How many laptop users have brushed the touchpad and sent their cursor elsewhere strewing their typing in several locations?
The article says Leap will track all ten fingers. No scratching while working! And I wonder what finger gesture will mean "CANCEL / Forget about it"?
In all seriousness, gestures can be quite difficult compared to holding something tangible, with a small amount of weight. This was compared to Kinect - I found Wii bowling to be more realistic with the minimal amount of the Wii controller in my hand compared to the similar game in Xbox with Kinect.
This is amazingly cool. It's yet another example of how gaming leads the way in electronics. For years, graphics chips have trickled down from gaming to less expensive products, giving us applications such as 3D navigation. Who says gaming is for kids?
What a great idea. I hope they work with Macs. It's not typing that I find wearing so much as all the touch-pad/mousing for web surfing. Aside from computer users, the other application possibility that comes to my mind is robot control. If this UI can interpret human movements, why can't it be adapted to do the same with robots? I've been wondering about gesture control/interpretation for robots that since the Kinect debuted. So far, I've seen research where a Kinect tells a robot about its environment http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=240288 but what about the other direction?
I hear what you both are saying about there not being a direct link to CAD at this time. But I think that's the operative words--at this time. I think there's a lot in this device that portends how input devices will evolve incorporating many of the gestures and capabilities that are becoming commonplace on our personal devices. Perhaps they'll call it the "consumerization of CAD." In any event, it's all about this company convincing CAD and design tool vendors to leverage their toolkit to take advantage of the new interaction paradigm. But this device, the Kinect, and what we see on the gaming front are no doubt, going to heavily influence CAD and design tool development moving forward.
I was impressed. I is like taking the big screen Hollywood to the little desktop screen.
However, I am not sure how to integrate it into my CAD package. I am not sure how it would be that beneficial in actual drawing conditions, as the sensitivity may not handle changing a few tenths of a degree or mm.
Beth, the video did not show anything beyond what you could do with the Kinect.It would be interesting to see someone trying to do a real CAD drawing with this device.
CAD has always pioneered input devices.Frankly, paper drawing required lots of specialized equipment as well.
A new battery design, which replaces lithium with abundant and low-cost elemental sulfur, is still in its nascent stages but shows real promise for giving batteries more energy potential.
PTC will offer a virtual desktop environment for its Creo product design applications, potentially freeing engineers to run them from remote desktops on a variety of operating systems and mobile devices.
The push to achieving more intelligent, integrated manufacturing is putting a strong focus on networking and connectivity as key enabling technologies.
Now that solar and wind harvesting technologies are a thriving market, researchers are seeking other environmentally related energy sources for which they can create harvesting devices.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
7 
