Gestural Interfaces Go Mainstream
19.05.12
Tarting with the handheld controllers introduced by the Nintendo Wii console in 2006, gamers have been able to control computers by making gestures in the air rather than with joysticks, game pads, or keyboards. Microsoft brought the technology to the next level in 2010 with the release of the Kinect, allowing Xbox consoles to be operated without any controllers at all: arm and body motions suffice. Now gestural interfaces are beginning to spread to other areas. In particular, they have the potential to change the way consumers interact with their televisions.
The first demonstrations of what gestural interfaces could offer beyond gaming came from enterprising hackers who did things like using a Wii controller to steer a Roomba robotic vacuum, and academic researchers like those in Microsoft's labs who adapted the Kinect to do things such as creating a 3-D model of a user's whole body. Analyst firm Markets & Markets estimates that the market for the hardware and software components needed to enable gesture recognition in products such as the Kinect was worth $200 million in 2010 and will be worth $625 million by 2015.
Source: Technology Review