Monday, May 21, 2012

Leap Motion (hands-free)

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https://live.leapmotion.com/about/ 

news.cnet. 

 

Say goodbye to your mouse and keyboard.

Leap represents an entirely new way to interact with your computers. It’s more accurate than a mouse, as reliable as a keyboard and more sensitive than a touchscreen.  For the first time, you can control a computer in three dimensions with your natural hand and finger movements.
This isn’t a game system that roughly maps your hand movements.  The Leap technology is 200 times more accurate than anything else on the market — at any price point. Just about the size of a flash drive, the Leap can distinguish your individual fingers and track your movements down to a 1/100th of a millimeter.
This is like day one of the mouse.  Except, no one needs an instruction manual for their hands

Leap Motion Seminar
  Leap Motion Ppt

The Leap: The future, in your hand. 


In the beginning was the command line. And vacuum tubes, punch cards, keyboards, and mice. After all these years, we still use the standard tools to control out computers. But what if there was something more?
There is, and it is here: The Leap. A revolutionary piece of hardware no larger than your iPod that’s two hundred times more accurate than any product currently on the market. We believe that  with The Leap, tomorrow we will no longer be tethered to hardware. With The Leap, imaginations will run wild, and possibilities will be endless. Cheesy marketing speak, you say? Perhaps. But at Leap Motion, we believe strongly and passionately that software can change the world. We believe you shouldn’t have to break the bank to make powerful software using powerful technology. We believe in possibility. And we cannot wait to see what the future will bring to the world of natural user interface and gesture control.

Get the most out of your Leap. Control browser scroll: Now you can scroll the web using your finger up and down, or on your desktop up and down and side to side.
Pinch to zoom: Zoom in somewhere easily – great for presentations or just for fun to get a better look.
Rotation: Try playing around with Google Earth and see how easy it is to rotate using your finger.
Your finger as your mouse: Go anywhere on your desktop or the web using your finger, just as you use your mouse. Point, scroll, click – you got it

Hands-free motion control, a technology pioneered by Nintendo's Wii and later improved upon by Microsoft's Kinect, just took a very big leap forward. Industries from gaming to surgery to architecture, engineering, and design may never be the same.
With the unveiling today of its Leap 3D motion control system, a San Francisco startup called Leap Motion has, well, leapfrogged the state of the art in this young field, giving users the ability to control what's on their computers with hundredth of a millimeter accuracy and introducing touch-free gestures like pinch-to-zoom.


 Leap, which comprises both a small USB input device and a sophisticated software platform, is expected to cost $70. But while users will have to wait until early next year to get their hands on it, what the company is showing today seems likely to get developers and users in a wide range of industries very, very excited.
By now, most people have seen Kinect in action. The Microsoft system has become a huge success by allowing developers to make games and other software that let people control what's on their screens with their bodies. That's great for dancing, fighting, and sports games, plus many others, but Kinect's ability to recognize motion ends at users' hands.

Leap, by comparison, can sense motion down to the most subtle movements of a finger, which the company says is 200 times more sensitive than anything else on the market. The system creates a "three-dimensional interaction space" of four cubic feet and is more precise and responsive than a touchscreen or a mouse, and just as reliable as a keyboard.
That means everyone from game designers to surgeons to architects and engineers may soon have a host of revolutionary applications that will soon be coming their way.
In a demonstration to CNET, Leap Motion CTO David Holz showed how the Leap is adept at a range of functions, such as:
  • Navigating an operating system or browsing Web pages with the flick of a finger
  • Finger-pinching to zoom in on maps
  • Letting engineers interact with a 3D model of clay
  • Precision drawing in either two- or three-dimensions
  • Manipulating complex 3D data visualizations
  • Playing games, including those that require very "fast-twitch" control
  • Signing digital documents by writing in air
But that's just the beginning. Leap Motion, which announced $12.75 million in Series A funding led by Andy Miller of Highland Capital Partners earlier this month, decided from the get-go to make its technology into an ecosystem that would support a large number of third-party applications, as opposed to trying to build and popularize those apps itself.

What exactly is The Leap?
The Leap is a small iPod sized USB peripheral that creates a 3D interaction space of 4 cubic feet to precisely interact with and control software on your laptop or desktop computer. It’s like being able to reach into the computer and pull out information as easily as reaching into a cookie jar.
The Leap senses your individual hand and finger movements independently, as well as items like a pen. In fact, it’s 200x more sensitive than existing touch-free products and technologies. It’s the difference between sensing an arm swiping through the air and being able to create a precise digital signature with a fingertip or pen.
What can I do with The Leap? 
The possibilities are endless, really. Computer power has grown exponentially over the years, but the way we interact with those computers has not. With LEAP, virtually every kind of application, across every industry, can be re-imagined.
Art. Healthcare. Engineering. Operating Systems.  Gaming. If you can imagine it, we’re pretty confident there’s a remarkable member of our developer community who is already working to create it.
What is Leap Motion technology?
Leap Motion technology is a breakthrough in computer interaction, using a patented mathematical approach to 3D, touch-free motion sensing and motion control software that’s unlike anything that currently exists on the market or in academia. Developed over the past 4 years, Leap Motion moves far beyond the current technologies designed for distant arm waving.
How much does The Leap cost?
The Leap will retail for $69.99, and a limited number are currently available for pre-order at LeapMotion.com.
How does The Leap impact computing?
For decades people have been given a dream of what computers would be – from Star Trek holosuites to Tom Cruise swiping through Minority Report’s 3D computer interface. But it’s never made it out of the lab and into real life – until now. The ability to control any computer with nuanced hand and finger movements will fundamentally transform the way people interact with computers.
Who is The Leap ideal for?
Everyone! We envision a day in the near future when our motion control technology will be used in most consumer products – not just computers, but cars, appliances, medical devices, light switches and more. 
In a demonstration to CNET, Leap Motion CTO David Holz showed how the Leap is adept at a range of functions, such as:
  • Navigating an operating system or browsing Web pages with the flick of a finger
  • Finger-pinching to zoom in on maps
  • Letting engineers interact with a 3D model of clay
  • Precision drawing in either two- or three-dimensions
  • Manipulating complex 3D data visualizations
  • Playing games, including those that require very "fast-twitch" control
  • Signing digital documents by writing in air




Five ways to set up and optimize the Leap Motion Controller   Refernace



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