Technology news and Jobs 
Telecommunications The moving finger digitises, and....
Telecommunications The moving finger digitises, and.... | The moving finger digitises, and.... |
|
| by Stuart Corner | |
| Tuesday, 01 August 2006 | |
  
 Researchers at the University of Buffalo have developed a device which, they claim, enables a computer to interpret the meaning of human hand gestures.They say that their 'Fingertip Digitiser' which users wear on the tip of the index finger, can do more than simply track the movement of the hand. They appear to suggest that it can interpret gestures as they would be understood by another human being. "[It] can transfer to the virtual world the meaning and intent of common hand gestures, such as pointing, wagging the finger, tapping in the air or other movements." The device is also able to transfer to the computer very precise information about the physical characteristics - shape and size - of an object when a user taps, scratches, squeezes, strokes or glides a finger over the surface of the object. "The gesture-recognition function of this device, in particular, has great potential for a wide range of applications, from personal computing to medical diagnostics to computer games," said Young-Seok Kim the researcher who created the Fingertip Digitiser with Thenkurussi Kesavadas, director of UB's Virtual Reality Lab and associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Kesavadas claimed that, "With this device a computer, cellphone or computer game could read human intention more naturally...Eventually the Fingertip Digitiser may be used as a high-end substitute for a mouse, a keyboard or a joystick." The Fingertip Digitiser's design, the researchers say, is modelled on the biomechanical properties of a finger. "[This] means it can more accurately and intuitively sense the physical properties of an object." To sense touch and movement, the device uses a force sensor, an accelerometer and a motion tracker, all contained in thimble-sized device that fits on a user's finger. A real-time, multi-rate data acquisition system used with the Fingertip Digitiser reads the force feedback exerted by an object as it is touched by the user. To read hand gestures, the system tracks the acceleration and location of the fingertip device as the finger moves and gestures. A prototype of the device is being demonstrated at the SIGGRAPH2006 technology conference August 1-3 in Boston. The researchers expect it and related software to be market-ready within three years. |
Tags
| < Next story in category | Previous story in the category > |
|---|
