Is Touchscreen Technology Already in the Past?
With the 2012 holiday shopping season freshly behind us, many are clamoring to label the latest tech toys and devices as the biggest new seller or the latest dud. Nintendo’s Wii U and touchscreen laptops running Windows 8 were released just in time for the holidays, and depending on whom you ask, sales numbers for each have been varied.
The makers of each of these devices tout their touchscreen capabilities, but after watching this video, it’s easy to immediately push them aside and want something more.
Leap Motion, the software developers behind the device, already have tens of millions of dollars in preorders, and the video above makes it easy to see why it’s going to be so popular in 2013 when it’s released. After speaking with Leap Motion’s president and COO Andy Miller, ReadWriteWeb’s Dan Lyons recently had this to say:
He [Miller] reels off potential applications that range from robotic surgery to fighter jets, from semiconductor clean rooms to fast-food restaurant kitchens. “We’ve talked about seatback screens on planes,” he says. “Climate control systems. Set-top boxes and TVs and remote controls. Tablets. MRIs.”
Lyons goes on to point out that while hand gesture technology has been seen before, Leap Motion claims its device is 200 times more accurate than anything on the market and can track your finger movements down to 1/100th of a millimeter.
A group of scientists in London are taking touch-free technology even further by completely eliminating the need to use your arms and hands at all. Dubbed the GT3D, and using “components any one of us can buy from the shopping mall,” the device uses eye-tracking software to eliminate the need for a touchscreen, mouse, or even a keyboard.
The technology was originally developed for those with debilitating disabilities and who were unable to use standard computer equipment. But as the technology grows and the price continues to plummet (the GT3D costs around thirty dollars), hands-free computing will surely become attractive to an audience far wider than the disabled.
2012 saw Google joining the race to eliminate the need for human touch when it comes to computers with their self-driving car and Project Glass.
