MovEye Hopes to Be Next Generation of Gesture Control

Tarsier Inc. unveiled the MovEye, a new generation gesture control that the company demonstrated with smart TV applications, games, and 3D CAD (computer aided design) apps. A user wears the MovEye 3D glasses and points to an icon in the MovEye menu that occupies a 3D space in front of whatever is playing on the TV. Gestures are small, often using fingers to pinch to zoom out or draw circles for fast forward and rewind, similar to gestures used on small touchscreen tablets and smartphones. Gesture control is not new at this year's CES. Using hand movements to control TVs was added to Samsung TVs a few years ago. The Kinect camera controller can "see" the user's movements to navigate menus and select onscreen commands.

The difference between the Kinect and Samsung TV gesture controls and the MovEye, is that the MovEye reacts to movements that are seen from the user's point of view. It knows where you are pointing or looking in the 3 dimensional space around you.

The MovEye team demonstrated how to point and choose an application as well as how to pinch and scroll through menus without using large sweeping motions. The most exciting part of the demonstration involved an interaction with an airplane in a 3D CAD app. The 3D airplane extended "out" of the TV towards the person wearing the MovEye glasses. As he moved, the airplane moved to point towards him. When he crouched down he could look up to see the underbelly of the plane. As he turned his head, the airplane seemed to rotate showing us the right then left side of the plane.

Tarsier says that they are trying to use the unused 3D space for menus and other features that work with the MovEye. A crude prototype was used at today's press conference, and the Tarsier team said they hope to find partners who will use their technology.

X